Social relationship quality, depression and inflammation: A cross-cultural longitudinal study in the United States and Tokyo, Japan

Abstract

Background: Depression is an illness with biological, psychological, and social underpinnings, which may include the interplay of inflammation, psychological traits, stress, social relationships, and cultural background. Aims: This work examines the prospective associations between social relationship quality and depressive symptoms, and between social relationship quality and inflammatory outcomes in two distinct cultures. Methods: Data were obtained from two longitudinal, prospective cohort studies: Midlife in the United States (MIDUS), and Midlife Development in Japan (MIDJA) between 2004 and 2010. One thousand three hundred and twenty-seven community-based adults were included in analyses, 1,054 from the United States and 273 from Tokyo, Japan. Depressive symptoms (measured by the CES-D Depression Scale) and inflammation (measured by blood sample concentrations of the inflammatory biomarkers interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein) were the outcomes. Social relationship quality was the predictor. Culture, trait independence and interdependence, and psychosocial stressors were examined as moderators of the link between social relationship quality and depressive symptoms. Results: Higher social relationship quality was associated with lower depressive symptoms in the United States (β = −6.15, p < .001), but not in Japan (β = −1.25, p = .390). Social relationship quality had no association with inflammation. Psychosocial stressors moderated the link between social relationship quality and depressive symptoms in both the United States (β = −0.39, p = .001) and Tokyo (β = −0.55, p = .001), such that social relationship quality acted as a buffer against depressive symptoms as psychosocial stress increased. Conclusion: Improving the perceived quality of social relationships appears to be a stronger target for depression interventions in the United States than in Tokyo, Japan.

Estimating survival in data-driven phenotypes of mental health symptoms and peripheral biomarkers: A prospective study

“…Although our cross-cultural findings suggest a shared, underlying phenotypic marker of psychobiological health, it is essential to acknowledge that the sociocultural context may play an important role in shaping the development of culturally adapted, personalized interventions. Further research is necessary as prior studies have yielded inconclusive results regarding the extent to which factors such as independence/interdependence and perceived social relationships account for variations in depressive symptoms and peripheral biomarkers between the United States and Japan ( Miyamoto et al, 2013 ; Kaveladze et al, 2022 ).…”

Examining the Relationships between the Incidence of Infectious Diseases and Mood Disorders: An Analysis of Data from the Global Burden of Disease Studies, 1990–2019

“…The cross-lagged panel analyses in our study did not support any direct, linear causal relationship between the two. It is likely that any association between infection and mood disorders may apply only to a subset of cases, may depend crucially on the specific properties of individual pathogens [ 29 ], and may be influenced by individual vulnerability factors as well as the social, cultural, and economic circumstances [ 147 , 148 ].…”

A Daily Diary Investigation of the Fear of Missing Out and Diminishing Daily Emotional Well-Being: The Moderating Role of Cognitive Reappraisal

“…The second limitation relates to the lack of studies that attempt to investigate potential protective factors that can help to attenuate the negative association between FoMO and emotional well-being. Given the prevalence of FoMO in young adult populations (Elhai et al, 2020a(Elhai et al, , 2021Milyavskaya et al, 2018) and importance of emotional well-being to almost all aspects of life outcomes-including physical health (Hernandez et al, 2017;Paggi et al, 2016), quality of life (Skevington & Böhnke, 2018), social relations (Kaveladze et al, 2020), and job success (Harvey et al, 2011;Wright & Cropanzano, 2000)-it is imperative to examine potential protective factors that can help individuals to cope with the emotional consequences of FoMO. This is especially pertinent in Asian contexts due to the stronger link between FoMO and psychopathology (e.g., anxiety) symptoms in Chinese young adults as compared to samples from Western countries (Elhai et al, 2020a).…”