Effects of affectionate touch between spouses on cardiovascular stress responses

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Social connection is beneficial to health, and research supports the idea that happily married individuals are healthier and live longer than the unmarried. For most individuals, marriage is a powerful social bond, in which many aspects of connection are found within a single relationship, the partner is likely a target of attachment, and there are multiple opportunities for positive physical contact. Positive physical contact with others engenders potential stress-reducing physiological changes that may be enhanced by attachment. Taken together, these findings suggest some health-related benefits of marriage may be moderated or mediated by touch. Studies in non-Latinos have shown warm partner contact (comprising both positive physical contact and positive social interaction) may cause reduced blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) responses to psychosocial stressors. The current study will explore the psychophysiological mechanisms of these effects. It will also test a model in which the effects may vary based on individual differences, couple characteristics, and cultural context. Cultural influences will be studied by comparing Latino and non-Latino couples. We focus on Latinos because, although data are scarce, Latino cultures are viewed as high-contact relative to mainstream American norms. Also, Latinos have lower than expected cardiovascular risk. The current study will investigate the possibility that positive physical contact is a more potent reducer of stress responses in Latino couples. This pilot project has 3 specific aims: 1) to determine to what extent physical contact and social interaction contribute to lower BP and HR responses to lab stressors; 2) to examine how physical contact and social interaction affect underlying contributors to BP and HR stress responses (cardiac output [CO], total peripheral resistance [TPR], sympathetic and parasympathetic cardiac activation); and 3) to explore potential moderating influences of salient individual differences, couple characteristics, and cultural context on these effects. The central hypotheses are: 1) both physical contact and social interaction will reduce BP and HR responses to a laboratory stressor; 2) both interaction and touch will reduce TPR, but not CO; 3) interaction and touch will reduce both sympathetic increases and parasympathetic decreases during stress; and 4) physical contact- related attenuation of HR and BP will be associated with positive attitudes and experiences regarding physical contact, less avoidant attachment, higher marital satisfaction and typical levels of touch, and Latino ethnicity. The sample will comprise 200 couples (age 21-48) married at least 6 mo. Partners will spend 10 min together prior to separately performing a laboratory stressor while cardiovascular variables are recorded (a control condition will require partners to wait separately from each other). To disentangle the effects of physical contact from those of social interaction, couples will either touch or not, and will either converse warmly or not, during the pre-stress period, yielding four treatment groups, plus a control group. Approximately equal numbers of Latino and non-Latino couples will be recruited for each experimental condition. Public Health Relevance: Social connection appears to decrease or prevent many health problems. Happily married individuals, in particular, are healthier and live longer than their never-married counterparts. Physical affection is an important contributor to marital satisfaction, and may enhance health by reducing stress responses.