Erschienen in:
01.04.2015 | Original Article
Social Integration Prospectively Predicts Changes in Heart Rate Variability Among Individuals Undergoing Migration Stress
verfasst von:
Jean-Philippe Gouin, Ph.D., Biru Zhou, M.A., Stephanie Fitzpatrick, Ph.D.
Erschienen in:
Annals of Behavioral Medicine
|
Ausgabe 2/2015
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Abstract
Background
Poor social integration increases risk for poor health. The psychobiological pathways underlying this effect are not well-understood.
Purpose
This study utilized a migration stress model to prospectively investigate the impact of social integration on change in high-frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV), a marker of autonomic functioning.
Methods
Sixty new international students were recruited shortly after their arrival in the host country and assessed 2 and 5 months later. At each assessment period, participants provided information on social integration and loneliness and had their resting HF-HRV evaluated.
Results
There was an overall decrease in HF-HRV over time. The magnitude of the within-person and between-person effects of social integration on HRV increased over time, such that greater social integration was associated with higher HF-HRV at later follow-ups.
Conclusions
These results suggest that altered autonomic functioning might represent a key pathway linking social integration to health outcomes.