Marital Distress Prospectively Predicts Poorer Cellular Immune Function

Overview

Journal Psychoneuroendocrinology

Specialties Endocrinology
Neurology
Psychiatry

Date 2013 Jul 25

PMID 23880114

Citations 41

Authors

Lisa M Jaremka

Ronald Glaser

William B Malarkey

Janice K Kiecolt-Glaser

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objective: Distressed marriages enhance risk for a variety of health problems. Immune dysregulation is one potential mechanism; cross-sectional studies have demonstrated that marital distress is linked to maladaptive immune alterations. The current study filled an important gap in the literature by examining the ability of marital distress to prospectively predict immune alterations over a two-year period.

Method: Participants were 90 couples (N=180 individuals; Mage=25.67) married less than a year at the time of their first study visit. Both members of a couple completed a baseline assessment of marital quality and provided blood samples at baseline and two years later. 63 couples (N=123 individuals) completed the follow-up assessment.

Results: Spouses in more distressed marriages had larger declines in cellular immune function over time than spouses in less distressed marriages. Furthermore, the results were highly consistent across two different indices, proliferative responses to two mitogens, concanavalin A (Con A) and phytohemagglutinin (PHA).

Conclusions: Marital distress has a variety of negative health consequences. The current study provided important evidence that marital distress has longer-term immune consequences. Accordingly, the present results provide a glimpse into the pathways through which marital distress may impact health over time.

Citing Articles

The post-Cartesian dilemma: Reuniting the mind and body through psychoneuroimmunology.

Bennett J Compr Psychoneuroendocrinol. 2024; 20:100265.

PMID: 39391061 PMC: 11465197. DOI: 10.1016/j.cpnec.2024.100265.

Turning stress into success: A festschrift in honor of Janice Kiecolt-Glaser.

Christian L Compr Psychoneuroendocrinol. 2024; 19:100251.

PMID: 39170082 PMC: 11338126. DOI: 10.1016/j.cpnec.2024.100251.

Development and Empirical Test of the Research-Informed South African Relationship Functioning Assessment (SARFA).

Belus J, Hines A, Magidson J, Iwamoto D, Rose A, Li A Pers Relatsh. 2024; 31(1):44-66.

PMID: 38708292 PMC: 11068037. DOI: 10.1111/pere.12522.

Epstein - Barr Virus Salivary Shedding in Patients with Acute Infectious Diseases: A Pilot Study.

Skuhala T, Zidovec-Lepej S, Trkulja V, Radmanic L, dakovic Rode O, Spiljak B Acta Stomatol Croat. 2024; 58(1):76-84.

PMID: 38562219 PMC: 10981907. DOI: 10.15644/asc58/1/7.

Reactivation of Epstein-Barr virus in SFTSV infected patients.

Fang L, Dong Y, Yan Z, Zhou C, Yu X, Qin X Infect Med (Beijing). 2023; 2(3):195-201.

PMID: 38073887 PMC: 10699715. DOI: 10.1016/j.imj.2023.04.005.

References

Hotamisligil G . Inflammation and metabolic disorders. Nature. 2006; 444(7121):860-7. DOI: 10.1038/nature05485. View

Ershler W, Keller E . Age-associated increased interleukin-6 gene expression, late-life diseases, and frailty. Annu Rev Med. 2000; 51:245-70. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.med.51.1.245. View

Sprehn G, Chambers J, Saykin A, Konski A, Johnstone P . Decreased cancer survival in individuals separated at time of diagnosis: critical period for cancer pathophysiology?. Cancer. 2009; 115(21):5108-16. PMC: 2767449. DOI: 10.1002/cncr.24547. View

Kiecolt-Glaser J, Newton T, Cacioppo J, MacCallum R, Glaser R, Malarkey W . Marital conflict and endocrine function: are men really more physiologically affected than women?. J Consult Clin Psychol. 1996; 64(2):324-32. DOI: 10.1037//0022-006x.64.2.324. View

Freeston M, Plechaty M . Reconsideration of the Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Test: is it still relevant for the 1990s?. Psychol Rep. 1997; 81(2):419-34. DOI: 10.2466/pr0.1997.81.2.419. View

Wayne S, Rhyne R, Garry P, Goodwin J . Cell-mediated immunity as a predictor of morbidity and mortality in subjects over 60. J Gerontol. 1990; 45(2):M45-8. DOI: 10.1093/geronj/45.2.m45. View

Harris T, Ferrucci L, Tracy R, Corti M, Wacholder S, Ettinger Jr W . Associations of elevated interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein levels with mortality in the elderly. Am J Med. 1999; 106(5):506-12. DOI: 10.1016/s0002-9343(99)00066-2. View

Robles T, Kiecolt-Glaser J . The physiology of marriage: pathways to health. Physiol Behav. 2003; 79(3):409-16. DOI: 10.1016/s0031-9384(03)00160-4. View

Glaser R, Pearl D, Kiecolt-Glaser J, Malarkey W . Plasma cortisol levels and reactivation of latent Epstein-Barr virus in response to examination stress. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 1994; 19(8):765-72. DOI: 10.1016/0306-4530(94)90023-x. View

10.

Hansson G . Inflammation, atherosclerosis, and coronary artery disease. N Engl J Med. 2005; 352(16):1685-95. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMra043430. View

11.

Holt-Lunstad J, Smith T, Layton J . Social relationships and mortality risk: a meta-analytic review. PLoS Med. 2010; 7(7):e1000316. PMC: 2910600. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1000316. View

12.

Nabipour I, Vahdat K, Jafari S, Pazoki R, Sanjdideh Z . The association of metabolic syndrome and Chlamydia pneumoniae, Helicobacter pylori, cytomegalovirus, and herpes simplex virus type 1: the Persian Gulf Healthy Heart Study. Cardiovasc Diabetol. 2006; 5:25. PMC: 1697801. DOI: 10.1186/1475-2840-5-25. View

13.

Karney B, Bradbury T . The longitudinal course of marital quality and stability: a review of theory, method, and research. Psychol Bull. 1995; 118(1):3-34. DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.118.1.3. View

14.

Whisman M, Sbarra D . Marital adjustment and interleukin-6 (IL-6). J Fam Psychol. 2012; 26(2):290-5. PMC: 4034464. DOI: 10.1037/a0026902. View

15.

Robles T, Slatcher R, Trombello J, McGinn M . Marital quality and health: a meta-analytic review. Psychol Bull. 2013; 140(1):140-187. PMC: 3872512. DOI: 10.1037/a0031859. View

16.

Phillips A, Carroll D, Burns V, Ring C, Macleod J, Drayson M . Bereavement and marriage are associated with antibody response to influenza vaccination in the elderly. Brain Behav Immun. 2005; 20(3):279-89. DOI: 10.1016/j.bbi.2005.08.003. View

17.

Kiecolt-Glaser J, Fisher L, Ogrocki P, Stout J, SPEICHER C, Glaser R . Marital quality, marital disruption, and immune function. Psychosom Med. 1987; 49(1):13-34. DOI: 10.1097/00006842-198701000-00002. View

18.

Cook R . Alcohol abuse, alcoholism, and damage to the immune system--a review. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 1999; 22(9):1927-42. View

19.

Troxel W, Matthews K, Gallo L, Kuller L . Marital quality and occurrence of the metabolic syndrome in women. Arch Intern Med. 2005; 165(9):1022-7. DOI: 10.1001/archinte.165.9.1022. View

20.

Kiecolt-Glaser J, Newton T . Marriage and health: his and hers. Psychol Bull. 2001; 127(4):472-503. DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.127.4.472. View