The effects of the social environment on stress-related cardiovascular activation: current findings, prospects, and implications

Social relationships have been shown to be health-protective and to improve cardiovascular disease prognosis. One of the mechanisms by which social relationships may alter health status is through altering patterns of neuroendocrine or hemodynamic responding to ongoing activity. For example, researc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annals of behavioral medicine 1998-12, Vol.20 (4), p.247-256
Main Authors: Kamarck, T W, Peterman, A H, Raynor, D A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Psychological - physiology
Adult
Atherosclerosis
Cardiovascular disease
Cardiovascular Physiological Phenomena
Female
Health psychology
Heart
Hemodynamics - physiology
Humans
Laboratories
Male
Nervous system
Neurosecretory Systems - physiology
Social Dominance
Social Environment
Social integration
Social isolation
Social Support
Stress, Psychological - physiopathology
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Summary:Social relationships have been shown to be health-protective and to improve cardiovascular disease prognosis. One of the mechanisms by which social relationships may alter health status is through altering patterns of neuroendocrine or hemodynamic responding to ongoing activity. For example, research with non-human primates suggests that disrupted social relationships may increase cardiovascular risk through their effects on sympathetic nervous system activation. In humans, a number of recent reports have shown that the presence of an affiliative companion can reduce cardiovascular activity during psychologically challenging tasks, results which are consistent with this proposed mechanism of effect. We review the recent human literature which has examined the effects of the social environment on stress-related cardiovascular activity. Although findings in this literature are generally consistent, recent anomalous results are reviewed which shed light on some of the context-dependent effects of social affiliation. Additional areas for further investigation are examined, including possible mechanisms for explaining these social affiliation effects, individual differences which may moderate these effects, and emerging methodological advances for examining how these effects may generalize to the natural environment.
ISSN:0883-6612
1532-4796
DOI:10.1007/bf02886374