Abstract
Background: Previous research has assessed S-IgA reactivity in response to a variety of acute and chronic stressors. This paper discusses three experiments assessing the roles of personality and health status as moderators upon S-IgA reactivity to one stressor, the same stressor on consecutive days and cumulative acute stress.
Method: All volunteers were healthy undergraduates. Saliva samples were taken immediately before and after exposure to
the stressor (multi-tasking battery) of 5 minute duration. A minor health complaints questionnaire (MHCQ) was used to classify volunteers as being in either good or poor health.
Experiment One: (N = 60) MHCQ prior to acute stressor. Experiment Two: (N = 49) MHCQ, NEOFFI and PANAS prior to the same acute stressor 24 hours apart. Experiment Three: (N = 20) MHCQ and PANAS and prior to three acute stressors interspersed with 5 minutes of relaxation.
Results: In experiments 1 and 2, there was a trend for individuals in poor health to demonstrate reduced post-stress S-IgA reactivity. In experiment 3, poor health individuals demonstrated reduced or downregulation of S-IgA following the stressor (t (18) 2.46, p = 0.02). Individuals in poor health also reported significantly greater negative affectivity (t (47) –2.52, p = 0.03) and neuroticism (t (47)
–2.90, p <0.01).
Discussion: Data are presented using the immuno-capacity model. A cyclical process is explained where levels of ill-health and NA moderate S-IgA reactivity to acute stress. Post-stress S-IgA levels moderate subsequent susceptibility to ill-health and NA and S-IgA reactivity to subsequent stressors.
| Original language | English |
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| Publication status | Published - Sept 2001 |
| Event | Annual Scientific Meeting of the Psychobiology Section of the British Psychological Society 2001 - Langdale, UK Duration: 1 Sept 2001 → … |
Conference
| Conference | Annual Scientific Meeting of the Psychobiology Section of the British Psychological Society 2001 |
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| Period | 1/09/01 → … |