Giving to others and the association between stress and mortality.
Am J Public Health
; 103(9): 1649-55, 2013 Sep.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-23327269
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES:
We sought to test the hypothesis that providing help to others predicts a reduced association between stress and mortality.METHODS:
We examined data from participants (n = 846) in a study in the Detroit, Michigan, area. Participants completed baseline interviews that assessed past-year stressful events and whether the participant had provided tangible assistance to friends or family members. Participant mortality and time to death was monitored for 5 years by way of newspaper obituaries and monthly state death-record tapes.RESULTS:
When we adjusted for age, baseline health and functioning, and key psychosocial variables, Cox proportional hazard models for mortality revealed a significant interaction between helping behavior and stressful events (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.58; P < .05; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.35, 0.98). Specifically, stress did not predict mortality risk among individuals who provided help to others in the past year (HR = 0.96; 95% CI = 0.79, 1.18), but stress did predict mortality among those who did not provide help to others (HR = 1.30; P < .05; 95% CI = 1.05, 1.62).CONCLUSIONS:
Helping others predicted reduced mortality specifically by buffering the association between stress and mortality.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Mortalidade
/
Comportamento de Ajuda
/
Acontecimentos que Mudam a Vida
Tipo de estudo:
Etiology_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Aged80
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
País/Região como assunto:
America do norte
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Am J Public Health
Ano de publicação:
2013
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Estados Unidos