Does the Positive Affective Quality of Social interactions Predict Leukocyte Gene Expression? (2023)
Undergraduate: Keller Mink
Faculty Advisor: Barbara Fredrickson
Department: Psychology & Neuroscience
Highly socially connected adults have better health outcomes including decreased risk for early mortality and a range of disease morbidities. However, psychobiological mechanisms that mediate this association are poorly understood. The Conserved Transcriptional Response to Adversity (CTRA) when activated, is marked by increased expression of pro-inflammatory genes and decreased expression of antiviral-related genes. Individually experienced positive emotions and eudaimonic well-being are linked with lower inflammation and downregulated CTRA gene expression. We hypothesize that co-experienced positive affect achieved through everyday social interaction is key to understanding how markers of social connection get under the skin to influence health outcomes. The positive affective quality of social interactions, termed positivity resonance, occurs when social interactions are characterized by shared positive affect, caring nonverbal synchrony, and biological synchrony. In two samples of midlife adults (one selected low early life SES; total N = 200), we hypothesize that greater positivity resonance is associated with downregulated CTRA activation. We find preliminary support for an association between positivity resonance and CTRA gene expression in the sample selected for low early-life SES: however, this finding was not robust to genomic covariates. Exploratory analyses revealed a marginally significant interaction between social interaction frequency and CTRA gene expression in the low early-life SES sample suggesting that, in this population, quantity is beneficial in moderating poor health outcomes. No association was observed between positivity resonance and CTRA gene expression in the healthy midlife sample.
Link to Poster