O Kornienko1,2, D R Schaefer3, S D Pressman4, D A Granger5,4,6,7,8. 1. Department of Psychology, George Mason University, David King Hall, Room 2042, 4400 University Drive, 3F5, Fairfax, VA, 22030, USA. okornien@gmu.edu. 2. Institute for Interdisciplinary Salivary Bioscience Research, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA. okornien@gmu.edu. 3. Department of Sociology, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA. 4. Department of Psychological Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA. 5. Institute for Interdisciplinary Salivary Bioscience Research, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA. 6. Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, Baltimore, MD, USA. 7. Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA. 8. Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Abstract
PURPOSE: This study investigates the social determinants of health by examining how mucosal immunity is associated with the patterning of social connections in a network. Studies have suggested that social networks have biological underpinnings, but investigations at the scale of networks, rather than individuals, have remained elusive. We integrate salivary bioscience methods with advanced social network modeling to explore the association between salivary secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA), a key component of mucosal immunity, and social network structure. METHOD: Friendship network data and saliva samples (later assayed for SIgA) were obtained from a large mixed-gender social organization (n = 155, 55% female, M age = 19.5 years). RESULTS: Exponential random graph modeling revealed that SIgA levels were positively associated with reporting more friendship ties with community members (i.e., social network activity), after controlling for other processes associated with network structure including preference to befriend others of the same age, gender, and extraversion, increased network popularity of agreeable individuals and those with lower levels of perceived stress, as well as network structural and organizational processes. CONCLUSION: By examining a wider range of associations between SIgA and network structure, we pinpoint that SIgA is positively associated with respondent's sociability. Our findings are consistent with social integration theories linking social relationships to health and highlight the role of humoral immunity as a possible mediator of these associations.
PURPOSE: This study investigates the social determinants of health by examining how mucosal immunity is associated with the patterning of social connections in a network. Studies have suggested that social networks have biological underpinnings, but investigations at the scale of networks, rather than individuals, have remained elusive. We integrate salivary bioscience methods with advanced social network modeling to explore the association between salivary secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA), a key component of mucosal immunity, and social network structure. METHOD: Friendship network data and saliva samples (later assayed for SIgA) were obtained from a large mixed-gender social organization (n = 155, 55% female, M age = 19.5 years). RESULTS: Exponential random graph modeling revealed that SIgA levels were positively associated with reporting more friendship ties with community members (i.e., social network activity), after controlling for other processes associated with network structure including preference to befriend others of the same age, gender, and extraversion, increased network popularity of agreeable individuals and those with lower levels of perceived stress, as well as network structural and organizational processes. CONCLUSION: By examining a wider range of associations between SIgA and network structure, we pinpoint that SIgA is positively associated with respondent's sociability. Our findings are consistent with social integration theories linking social relationships to health and highlight the role of humoral immunity as a possible mediator of these associations.
Entities:
Keywords:
Exponential random graph modeling; Health; Mucosal immunity; Salivary secretory immunoglobulin A; Social network analysis; Social networks
Authors: Sarah D Pressman; Sheldon Cohen; Gregory E Miller; Anita Barkin; Bruce S Rabin; John J Treanor Journal: Health Psychol Date: 2005-05 Impact factor: 4.267