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Associations Between Secretory Immunoglobulin A and Social Network Structure

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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.

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Acknowledgements

We greatly appreciate the participation by members of the 2013-2014 Arizona State University (ASU) marching band and the efforts of Serena Weren, Gary Hill, and James G. Hudson in coordinating data collection. We also acknowledge Anne Reinhard and Jessica Bayer for biotechnical support with salivary assays. We thank Julianna Goenaga, Claire Yee, Maria Pelaez, Kristen Granger, and Ryan Field for assistance with data collection. Data collection was supported in part by a seed grant from the Herberger School of Music at ASU to Gary Hill and reagents were donated by Salimetrics LLC (Carlsbad, CA). Olga Kornienko was supported in part by National Institutes of Health Loan Repayment Award (L30 DA042448).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, George Mason University, David King Hall, Room 2042, 4400 University Drive, 3F5, Fairfax, VA, 22030, USA

    O. Kornienko

  2. Institute for Interdisciplinary Salivary Bioscience Research, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    O. Kornienko & D. A. Granger

  3. Department of Sociology, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    D. R. Schaefer

  4. Department of Psychological Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    S. D. Pressman & D. A. Granger

  5. Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, Baltimore, MD, USA

    D. A. Granger

  6. Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA

    D. A. Granger

  7. Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    D. A. Granger

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  1. O. Kornienko
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  2. D. R. Schaefer
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  3. S. D. Pressman
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  4. D. A. Granger
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to O. Kornienko.

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Informed consent was obtained from all participants.

Conflict of Interest

In the interest of full disclosure, DAG is founder and Chief Scientific and Strategy Advisor at Salimetrics LLC and Salivabio LLC and these relationships are managed by the policies of the committees on conflict of interest at the University of California, Irvine and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. No other authors have information to disclose.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Kornienko, O., Schaefer, D.R., Pressman, S.D. et al. Associations Between Secretory Immunoglobulin A and Social Network Structure. Int.J. Behav. Med. 25, 669–681 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-018-9742-z

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