Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on August 3, 2012
While sociologists and psychologists have known that having a close relationship improves one?s health and happiness, the biological underpinnings that influence these health effects has been obscure.
Learning how relationships provide protective health benefits has been accentuated with new findings that show dramatic benefits of being in a relationship for health issues ranging from pregnancy and birth defects to cancer and chronic disease.
?We know that having relationships in general and being socially integrated is associated with a reduced risk of mortality,? said psychologist Dr. Paula Pietromonaco of the University of Massachusetts.
?Our research follows from attachment theory, which suggests that there is one primary person that people turn to for comfort when they are distressed or frightened.? In adulthood, that person is often a romantic partner or spouse, she says.
?These sorts of relationship partners are especially important when people are faced with a stressful event because they have the potential to comfort and calm the person who is experiencing distress or to hinder that person?s efforts to feel better.?
In an ongoing longitudinal study of 225 newlywed couples, Pietromonaco?s team is finding that the way people feel attached to each other affects cortisol levels in response to stress ? and can possibly predict depression or anxiety over time.
That is, our emotional quotient, as associated with being in a relationship, can influence future mental health challenges.
Researchers say preliminary findings show that when a wife is more anxiously attached ? that is, someone who desires a great deal of intimacy and seeks reassurance and support ? and a husband who is more ?avoidantly attached,? cortisol levels spike in anticipation of a conflict discussion followed by a sharp decline in cortisol.
?In addition, these same anxious wife/avoidant husband couples appear to have more difficulty in discussing the conflict, and their behavior suggests greater disengagement from the discussion.?
Pietromonaco believes the patterns may signal difficulty with emotion regulation, and it is possible that individuals in these couples will be at greater risk for symptoms of depression and anxiety over time.
In the study, researchers are following the couples over the first 3 to 4 years of marriage, and will be examining the extent to which the patterns they see now predict changes in emotional health over the early years of marriage.
Upon a review of studies that addressed the effects of two-person relationships on a range of health topics Pietromonaco discovered several instances in which greater prenatal social support predicts more optimal fetal growth, higher infant birth weight, and reduced risk of low birth weight.
How, the researchers caution that such studies need to be replicated and expanded to take into account both perceived support as well as actual support interactions among both partners.
Researchers say the emerging field of relationship science will explore in what way the expectations, beliefs, and experiences of both partners can predict emotional and physical health.
?Although research on psychology and health has begun to consider these sorts of ?partner effects,? they are often not incorporated into studies designed to intervene to help people cope with chronic diseases such as cancer or diabetes,? said Pietromonaco.
?As Lynn Martire [Penn State] and her colleagues have noted, many couple intervention studies include both partners but assess psychological adjustment for the patient only.
?Yet how the patient?s caregiver, who is often a spouse, is adjusting and coping may be very important in predicting how patients themselves cope.?
Source: Society for Personality and Social Psychology
APA Reference
Nauert PhD, R. (2012). Close Relationships Influence Health, Happiness. Psych Central. Retrieved on August 3, 2012, from http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/08/03/close-relationships-influence-health-happiness/42635.html
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Source: http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/08/03/close-relationships-influence-health-happiness/42635.html
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