Moderating effects of gender and vulnerability on the relationships between financial hardship, low education and immune response

Abstract

Gender, financial hardship, low education and vulnerability to stress, were regressed on a latent dependent variable representing covariances of three mitogen tests measuring immune response in the form of lymphocyte proliferation (CON‐A, PHA, and PWM). In addition to the four main effects, six interaction terms involving all possible two‐way combinations of the four main variables were regressed on the dependent variable. While financial strain and vulnerability exert significant negative main effects on immune response as anticipated, these variables interact with one another and with gender to produce complex conditional relationships. The interaction between low education and male gender produces a negative effect on immune response, while financial hardship and vulnerability to stress interact to produce positive effects on immune response. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Psychological Stress and the Human Immune System: A Meta-Analytic Study of 30 Years of Inquiry.

“…Acute time-limited stressors included primarily experimental manipulations of stressful experiences, such as public speaking and mental arithmetic, that lasted between 5 and 100 min. Reliable effects on the immune system included increases in immune parameters, especially natural im- Ackerman et al, 1996Baker et al, 1984Bauer et al, 2000Boscarino & Chang, 1999Abdeljaber et al, 1994Andersen et al, 1998Aloe et al, 1994Bisselli et al, 1993Aragona et al, 1996Dekaris et al, 1993Inoue-Sakurai et al, 2000Benschop, Jabaaij, et al, 1998de Gucht et al, 1999Arber et al, 1992Borella et al, 1999Arnetz et al, 1991Dimsdale et al, 1994Laudenslager et al, 1998Biondo et al, 1994Halim et al, 2000Bachen et al, 1992, 1995…”

Financial concern predicts deteriorations in mental and physical health among university students

“…It is plausible that financial concerns could lead to increased role limitation due to physical health problems (and marginally worse general health perception) over the course of an academic term through various pathways. For example, financial concern might impact immune function, resulting in greater susceptibility to infectious diseases (Halim et al, 2000). Alternatively, financial concern might precipitate health-detrimental behaviours, such as excessive alcohol consumption, and impair sleep (Berg et al, 2009;Martinez, Beebe, Thompson, Wagener, Terrell, & Campbell, 2018).…”

“…In line with the hypothesis that greater levels of financial concern result in worse health, finance-related worries may generate stress and negative affect, which have the potential to promote emotional distress, confer negative implications for both the immune and cardiovascular systems and contribute to health-detrimental behaviours (Carver & Vargas, 2011;Kiecolt-Glaser, McGuire, Robles, & Glaser, 2002;Matthews & Gallo, 2011;Pruett, 2003;Puterman et al, 2013;Steptoe, Brydon, & Kunz-Ebrecht, 2005;Turunen & Hiilamo, 2014). Indeed, evidence indicates that financial strain may be linked to increased cortisol levels (Grossi, Perski, Lundberg, & Soares, 2001), increased ambulatory blood pressure (Steptoe et al, 2005), and lowered immune response (Halim, Kaplan, & Pollack, 2000). Furthermore, financial difficulties have been associated with greater levels of alcohol consumption (Berg et al, 2009), smoking (Adams & Moore, 2007;Berg et al, 2009;Roberts et al, 2000), and cocaine and amphetamine use (Adams & Moore, 2007).…”

Functional illness in primary care: dysfunction versus disease

“…In a more positive sense, social capital has a pervasive beneficial effect on quality of life, measures of physical health, and resilience to stress [ 46 ]. Psychological factors, notably stress, are known to affect the neuroendocrine and immune systems [ 47 ] and have been linked to cancer and HIV progression [ 48 , 49 ]. Similarly, psychological disorder appears to enhance the development of inflammation and infection in atherosclerotic plaques [ 50 ] and activate autoimmune disease such as rheumatoid arthritis [ 51 ].…”