Marital status as a predictor of diurnal salivary cortisol levels and slopes in a community sample of healthy adults.
Marital status as a predictor of diurnal salivary cortisol levels and slopes in a community sample of healthy adults.
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DOI：
10.1016/j.psyneuen.2017.01.016
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发表时间：
2017-04
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Cohen S
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Chin B;Murphy MLM;Janicki-Deverts D;Cohen S
已婚者往往比已婚者（丧亲、离婚、分居）和未婚者更健康，但其发生的机制尚不清楚。为此，研究越来越关注未婚和已婚个体所经历的心理压力如何对与健康相关的生理系统产生不同的影响。受压力调节的一个关键系统是下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺（HPA）轴，其中皮质醇是一个关键的激素产物。皮质醇分泌增加和皮质醇日常节律紊乱与较差的健康状况有关。本研究以572名21-55岁的健康男女为社区样本，研究了当前婚姻状况与皮质醇这两项指数之间的关系。它还测试了婚姻是否能缓冲压力（通过婚姻状况相互作用感知到的压力）对皮质醇产生的影响。参与者在三个非连续的单独的日子里，在清醒的时候提供唾液皮质醇样本，以计算每天的皮质醇水平和斜率。已婚人士的皮质醇水平低于从未结过婚或结过婚的人。皮质醇水平的差异至少部分是由于已婚人士在下午的皮质醇下降速度比从未结过婚的人快（但不是那些曾经结过婚的人）。此外，在预测皮质醇水平方面，感知压力和婚姻状况之间存在相互作用。具体来说，对于结过婚的人来说，压力越大，皮质醇水平越高，但对于已婚或未婚的人来说，压力越大，皮质醇水平越高。本研究的结果支持皮质醇作为一个候选机制，说明婚姻状况和健康的关联。
Married people tend to be healthier than both the previously (bereaved, divorced, and separated) and never married, but the mechanisms through which this occurs remain unclear. To this end, research has increasingly focused on how psychological stress experienced by unmarried versus married individuals may differentially impact physiological systems related to health. One key system that is modulated by stress is the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, of which cortisol is a key hormonal product. Increased cortisol production and disruption of cortisol’s daily rhythm have been linked to poorer health outcomes. This study examined the association between current marital status and these two indices of cortisol in a community sample of 572 healthy men and women aged 21–55. It also tested whether marriage buffers against the effect of stress (perceived stress by marital status interaction) on cortisol production. Participants provided salivary cortisol samples during waking hours on three nonconsecutive separate days to calculate diurnal cortisol levels and slopes. Married individuals had lower cortisol levels than either their never married or previously married counterparts. Differences in cortisol levels were due at least in part to currently married individuals having a more rapid decline in cortisol through the afternoon hours compared to individuals who were never married (but not those who were previously married). Furthermore, there was an interaction between perceived stress and marital status in predicting cortisol levels. Specifically, higher stress was associated with higher cortisol levels for previously married individuals but not for the married or never married. The results of this study support cortisol as one candidate mechanism accounting for the association of marital status and health.