Social Relationships and Sleep Quality.

BACKGROUND: The quality of social relationships and social support appears to be associated with physical health outcomes and sleep quality. Almost all previous research in this area focuses on positive aspects of relationships. PURPOSE: The present study thus intended to examine the links between supportive, aversive, ambivalent, and indifferent network ties and sleep quality. METHODS: Relationship data, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI)-assessed sleep quality, and depression were examined in 175 middle-aged and older adults. RESULTS: Consistent with hypotheses, supportive ties were positively related to sleep quality, while aversive ties predicted worse sleep quality, associations that were primarily seen for close relationships. Ambivalent and indifferent ties were not significant predictors of sleep quality. Importantly, depression was found to mediate the link between relationship quality and sleep quality. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest the more specific types of social relationships that may be linked to poor sleep quality and that depression appears to underlie these associations.

A cross-sectional analysis of the association between perceived network social control and telomere length.

OBJECTIVE: Social control in the health domain refers to attempts by social network members to get an individual to modify their health behaviors. According to the dual effects model of social control, having one's health behavior controlled by others should be related to healthier behavioral change, but might arouse psychological distress as one may resent being controlled. Despite potential healthy behavior change, the stress of social control may thus be detrimental as interpersonal stress has been related to negative health outcomes. In the present study, the association between perceived social control and telomere length was tested to examine its association to biological outcomes. METHOD: In this cross-sectional study, a relatively healthy community sample of 140 middle age and older adults completed measures of perceived social control, perceived stress, and health behaviors. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were used to determine telomere length. RESULTS: Main results showed that higher levels of perceived direct social network control were associated with shorter telomere length. These links were not influenced by statistical controls for medication use, self-rated health, trait hostility, and optimism. Perceived social control was also related to greater perceived stress but not health behaviors overall. However, neither perceived stress nor health behaviors mediated the link between social control and telomere length. CONCLUSIONS: Although the study design precludes strong inferences, these results suggest that perceived social control may be associated with cellular aging. These data also highlight the utility of integrating biological outcomes into social control models. (PsycINFO Database Record

Trait hostility is associated with systemic inflammation in married couples: an actor-partner analysis.

Trait anger and hostility predict the development of coronary heart disease, and systemic inflammation may partly mediate this association. In a sample of 94 middle-aged and older married couples, we replicate research showing a within individuals (i.e., actor effect) association of trait hostility with high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP). As a novel extension of that research, the present study also examined the association of individuals' trait hostility with their partners' hsCRP (i.e., partner effect). Controlling for potential confounds, trait hostility, measured with the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire, was significantly associated with both participants' own hsCRP, b=.0528 (SE=.0196), p=.008 and their partners' levels b=.0473 (SE=.0194), p=.016. Hence, the inflammatory correlates of trait hostility occur not only within individuals but between them, as well. The effects of unhealthy personality traits may extend to intimate partners and possibly other social network members.