Covariation of psychobiological stress regulation with valence and quantity of social interactions in everyday life: disentangling intra- and interindividual sources of variation

Abstract

While the overall effects of social relationships on stress and health have extensively been described, it remains unclear how the experience of social interactions covaries with the activity of psychobiological stress in everyday life. We hypothesized that the valence as well as quantitative characteristics of social interactions in everyday life would attenuate psychobiological stress. Sixty healthy participants provided data for the analyses. Using an ecological momentary assessment design, participants received 6 prompts on their smartphone for 4 days. At each prompt, they reported on social interactions since the last prompt (any occurrence, frequency, duration, quality, and perceived social support), current subjective stress, and provided one saliva sample for the analyses of cortisol (sCort) and alpha-amylase (sAA). Experiencing any contact within days as well as higher daily levels of contact quality and perceived social support were associated with reduced levels of sCort. Furthermore, on a daily level, experiencing at least one contact in-between prompts more often as well as having more contacts on average attenuated the sAA output. Perceived social support and contact quality as well as higher daily contact durations were associated with lower subjective stress. For sCort, daily levels of stress moderated the effects of experiencing any contact within days while daily perceived social support moderated the effects of subjective stress. For sAA, experiencing at least one contact in-between prompts more often on a daily level moderated the effects of subjective stress. There were no between-person effects throughout all analyses. The results show ecologically valid evidence for direct attenuating effects of social interactions on psychobiological stress as well as for the stress-buffering hypothesis in everyday life. Increasing the quantity and improving the valence of social interactions on an intrapersonal level can possibly reduce psychobiological stress and prevent its consequences.

Recent developments in stress and anxiety research

“…In particular, momentary assessment studies are highly qualified to examine short to medium term fluctuations and interactions. In their study employing such a design, Stoffel and colleagues (Stoffel et al 2021) show ecologically valid evidence for direct attenuating effects of social interactions on psychobiological stress. Using an experimental approach, on the other hand, Denk et al (2021) examined the phenomenon of physiological synchrony between study participants; they found both cortisol and alpha-amylase physiological synchrony in participants who were in the same group while being exposed to a stressor.…”

Physiological reactions to acute stressors and subjective stress during daily life: A systematic review on ecological momentary assessment (EMA) studies

“…Another study on a healthy study population measuring acute stressor severity during social interactions and cortisol concurrently found no association [ 85 ]. Other studies using longer time lags between acute stressor severity during social interactions [ 82 , 86 ] or using a study population with autism spectrum disorders [ 87 ] also found no association. Regarding severity of acute stressors at work, cortisol levels were positively associated with concurrent measurement of the ability to meet work demands [ 88 ] and with performance pressure [ 89 ] but not with task failure measured for periods up to one hour preceding cortisol sampling.…”

“…Spinal cord injury [ 79 ], high coping efficacy and engagement coping in general [ 78 ] were related to decreased stress reactivity. Whereas one study examining pregnant women [ 80 ] and one study examining working adults [ 81 ] found positive relationships between global subjective stress and current cortisol levels, other studies with working adults [ 82 ] and women with fibromyalgia [ 83 ] found no such association. Furthermore, one study among healthy adults suggests that several subjective responses to stress attenuate a positive effect of global subjective stress on momentary cortisol levels [ 42 ].…”

“…Three daily diary studies with four to eight sampling days per participant [ 120 , 123 , 166 ] used middle-aged to older study populations with two of those studies examining caregivers with a high percentage of female participants (88% and 90%, respectively). Two other studies examined a sample of university students with one sampling day and a frequency of 15 measurements per participant (58% female participants [ 167 ]) and a sample of working adults with four sampling days and six measurements per participant and day (33% female participants [ 82 ]), respectively.…”

Day-to-day intrapersonal variability in mobility patterns and association with perceived stress: A cross-sectional study using GPS from 122 individuals in three European cities

“…Other measures that cannot be computed using mobility data may be more useful to highlight day-to-day variability in behaviours. For example, day-to-day variation for a number of social interaction measures and a greater number of quality daily social contacts have been associated with lower subjective stress ( Stoffel et al, 2021 ). Suggesting further research and studies designs are required that combine mobility metrics and social interaction measures.…”