Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Social Integration Prospectively Predicts Changes in Heart Rate Variability Among Individuals Undergoing Migration Stress

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Annals of Behavioral Medicine

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.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. House JS, Landis KR, Umberson D. Social relationships and health. Science. 1988; 241: 540-545.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Holt-Lunstad J, Smith TB, Layton JB. Social relationships and mortality risk: A meta-analytic review. PLoS Med. 2010; 7: e1000316.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Steptoe A, Shankar A, Demakakos P, Wardle J. Social isolation, loneliness, and all-cause mortality in older men and women. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013; 110: 5797-5801.

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Luo Y, Hawkley LC, Waite LJ, Cacioppo JT. Loneliness, health, and mortality in old age: A national longitudinal study. Soc Sci Med. 2012; 74: 907-914.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Karelina K, DeVries AC. Modeling social influences on human health. Psychosom Med. 2011; 73: 67-74.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Uchino BN. Social support and health: A review of physiological processes potentially underlying links to disease outcomes. J Behav Med. 2006; 29: 377-387.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Grippo AJ. The utility of animal models in understanding links between psychosocial processes and cardiovascular health. Soc Personal Psychol Compass. 2011; 5: 164-179.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Levy MN. Autonomic interactions in cardiac control. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1990; 601: 209-221.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Berntson GG, Bigger JT Jr, Eckberg DL, et al. Heart rate variability: Origins, methods, and interpretive caveats. Psychophysiology. 1997; 34: 623-648.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Hansen AL, Johnsen BH, Thayer JF. Vagal influence on working memory and attention. Int J Psychophysiol. 2003; 48: 263-274.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Kemp AH, Quintana DS, Gray MA, et al. Impact of depression and antidepressant treatment on heart rate variability: A review and meta-analysis. Biol Psychiatry. 2010; 67: 1067-1074.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Tsuji H, Larson MG, Venditti FJ Jr, et al. Impact of reduced heart rate variability on risk for cardiac events. The Framingham Heart Study. Circulation. 1996; 94: 2850-2855.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Liao D, Carnethon M, Evans GW, Cascio WE, Heiss G. Lower heart rate variability is associated with the development of coronary heart disease in individuals with diabetes: The atherosclerosis risk in communities (ARIC) study. Diabetes. 2002; 51: 3524-3531.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Hastings PD, Nuselovici JN, Utendale WT, et al. Applying the polyvagal theory to children’s emotion regulation: Social context, socialization, and adjustment. Biol Psychol. 2008; 79: 299-306.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Moore GA. Parent conflict predicts infants’ vagal regulation in social interaction. Dev Psychopathol. 2010; 22: 23-33.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Porter CL. Coregulation in mother-infant dyads: Links to infants’ cardiac vagal tone. Psychol Rep. 2003; 92: 307-319.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Maunder RG, Nolan RP, Hunter JJ, et al. Relationship between social support and autonomic function during a stress protocol in ulcerative colitis patients in remission. Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2012; 18: 737-742.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Schwerdtfeger AR, Schlagert H. The conjoined effect of naturalistic perceived available support and enacted support on cardiovascular reactivity during a laboratory stressor. Ann Behav Med. 2011; 42: 64-78.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Egizio VB, Jennings JR, Christie IC, et al. Cardiac vagal activity during psychological stress varies with social functioning in older women. Psychophysiology. 2008; 45: 1046-1054.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Diamond LM, Hicks AM. Attachment style, current relationship security, and negative emotions: The mediating role of physiological regulation. J Soc Pers Relat. 2005; 22: 499-518.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Randall G, Bhattacharyya MR, Steptoe A. Marital status and heart rate variability in patients with suspected coronary artery disease. Ann Behav Med. 2009; 38: 115-123.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Smith TW, Cribbet MR, Nealey-Moore JB, et al. Matters of the variable heart: Respiratory sinus arrhythmia response to marital interaction and associations with marital quality. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2011; 100: 103-119.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Horsten M, Ericson M, Perski A, et al. Psychosocial factors and heart rate variability in healthy women. Psychosom Med. 1999; 61: 49-57.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Hemingway H, Shipley M, Brunner E, et al. Does autonomic function link social position to coronary risk? The Whitehall II study. Circulation. 2005; 111: 3071-3077.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Rajapaksa S, Dundes L. It’s a long way home: International student adjustment to living in the United States. J Coll Stud Retent. 2002; 4: 15-28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Sawir E, Marginson S, Deumert A, Nyland C, Ramia G. Loneliness and international students: An Australian Study. J Stud Int Educ. 2008; 12: 148-180.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Porges SW. The polyvagal perspective. Biol Psychol. 2007; 74: 116-143.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Bonnemeier H, Richardt G, Potratz J, et al. Circadian profile of cardiac autonomic nervous modulation in healthy subjects: Differing effects of aging and gender on heart rate variability. J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol. 2003; 14: 791-799.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Kiecolt-Glaser JK, Glaser R. Methodological issues in behavioral immunology research with humans. Brain Behav Immun. 1988; 2: 67-78.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Cohen S, Doyle WJ, Skoner DP, Rabin BS, Gwaltney JM. Social ties and susceptibility to the common cold. JAMA. 1997; 277: 1940-1944.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Hendrickson B, Rosen D, Aune RK. An analysis of friendship networks, social connectedness, homesickness, and satisfaction levels of international students. Int J Intercult Rel. 2011; 35: 281-295.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Russell D, Peplau LA, Cutrona CE. The revised UCLA loneliness scale: Concurrent and discriminant validity evidence. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1980; 39: 472-480.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Sato T. The Eysenck personality questionnaire brief version: Factor structure and reliability. J Psychol. 2005; 139: 545-552.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. CardioEdit. Brain-Body Center. Chicago: University of Illinois at Chicago, 2007.

  35. CardioBatch. Brain-Body Center. Chicago: University of Illinois at Chicago, 2007.

  36. Porges SW, Bohrer RE. Analysis of periodic processes in psychophysiological research. In: Cacioppo JTT, Tassinary LG, eds. Principles of psychophysiology: Physical, social, and inferential elements. New York: Cambridge University Press; 1990: 708-753.

    Google Scholar 

  37. Denver JW, Reed SF, Porges SW. Methodological issues in the quantification of respiratory sinus arrhythmia. Biol Psychol. 2007; 74: 286-294.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. ESC-NASPE. Heart rate variability: Standards of measurement, physiological interpretation and clinical use. Task force of the European society of cardiology and the North American society of pacing and electrophysiology. Circulation. 1996; 93: 1043-1065.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Raudenbush S, Bryk AS. Hierarchical linear models: Application and data analysis methods. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks: Sage; 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  40. Gibbons RD, Hedeker D, Waternaux C, Davis JM. Random regression models: A comprehensive approach to the analysis of longitudinal psychiatric data. Psychopharmacol Bull. 1988; 24: 438-443.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Grippo AJ, Lamb DG, Carter CS, Porges SW. Social isolation disrupts autonomic regulation of the heart and influences negative affective behaviors. Biol Psychiatry. 2007; 62: 1162-1170.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  42. Cacioppo JT, Fowler JH, Christakis NA. Alone in the crowd: The structure and spread of loneliness in a large social network. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2009; 97: 977-991.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  43. Weiss RS. Loneliness: The experience of emotional and social Isolation. Cambridge: MIT Press; 1973.

    Google Scholar 

  44. Marangoni C, Ickes W. Loneliness: A theoretical review with implications for measurement. J Soc Pers Relat. 1989; 6: 93-128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Pinquart MS, Sorensen S. Risk factors for loneliness in adulthood and old age — A meta-analysis. In: Shohov S, ed. Advances in psychology research, vol. 19. Hauppauge: Nova Science; 2003: 111-143.

    Google Scholar 

  46. Hawkley LC, Hughes ME, Waite LJ, et al. From social structural factors to perceptions of relationship quality and loneliness: The Chicago health, aging, and social relations study. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2008; 63: S375-S384.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  47. Glass CR, Westmont CM. Comparative effects of belongingness on the academic success and cross-cultural interactions of domestic and international students. Int J Intercult Rel. 2014; 38: 106-119.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Rienties B, Tempelaar DT. The role of cultural dimensions of international and Dutch students on academic and social integration and academic performance in the Netherlands. Int J Intercult Rel. 2013; 37: 188-201.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Lewis GF, Furman SA, McCool MF, Porges SW. Statistical strategies to quantify respiratory sinus arrhythmia: Are commonly used metrics equivalent? Biol Psychol. 2012; 89: 349-364.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by grants from the Canada Research Chair program as well as the Canadian Institutes for Health Research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The authors would like to thank Diana Sitoianu and Daysi Zentner for their assistance in data collection.

Authors’ Statement of Conflict of Interest and Adherence to Ethical Standards

Authors Gouin, Zhou, and Fitzpatrick declare that they have no conflict of interest. All procedures, including the informed consent process, were conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke Street West, PY 170-14, Montreal, QC, H4B 1R6, Canada

    Jean-Philippe Gouin Ph.D. & Biru Zhou M.A.

  2. Center for Clinical Research in Health, Concordia University, Montréal, Canada

    Jean-Philippe Gouin Ph.D. & Biru Zhou M.A.

  3. Department of Preventive Medicine, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA

    Stephanie Fitzpatrick Ph.D.

Authors
  1. Jean-Philippe Gouin Ph.D.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Biru Zhou M.A.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Stephanie Fitzpatrick Ph.D.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jean-Philippe Gouin Ph.D..

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Gouin, JP., Zhou, B. & Fitzpatrick, S. Social Integration Prospectively Predicts Changes in Heart Rate Variability Among Individuals Undergoing Migration Stress. ann. behav. med. 49, 230–238 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-014-9650-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-014-9650-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation