ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Social Regulation of the Neural Threat Response Predicts Subsequent Markers of Physical Health

Lin, Jingrun MA; Namaky, Nauder PhD; Costello, Meghan MA; Uchino, Bert N. PhD; Allen, Joseph P. PhD; Coan, James A. PhD

From the Department of Psychology (Lin, Costello, Allen, Coan), University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia; Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior (Namaky), Alpert Medical School of Brown University; RR&D Center for Neurorestoration and Neurotechnology, Providence VA Medical Center (Namaky), Providence, Rhode Island; Department of Psychology (Uchino), University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Address correspondence to Jingrun Lin, MA, Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, 240D Gilmer Hall, Charlottesville, VA 22904. E-mail: jl5xg@virginia.edu

Received for publication March 16, 2023; revision received June 25, 2023.

Article Editor: Daryl O'Connor

Supplemental Digital Content

Psychosomatic Medicine 85(9):p 763-771, 11/12 2023. | DOI: 10.1097/PSY.0000000000001238

• SDC

Abstract

Objective 

Social support has been linked to a vast range of beneficial health outcomes. However, the physiological mechanisms of social support are not well characterized. Drawing on functional magnetic resonance imaging and health-related outcome data, this study aimed to understand how neural measures of “yielding”—the reduction of brain activity during social support—moderate the link between social support and health.

Methods 

We used a data set where 78 participants around the age of 24 years were exposed to the threat of shock when holding the hand of a partner. At ages 28 to 30 years, participants returned for a health visit where inflammatory activity and heart rate variability were recorded.

Results 

Findings showed a significant interaction between dorsal anterior cingulate cortex–related yielding and perceived social support on C-reactive protein levels (β = −0.95, SE = 0.42, z = −2.24, p = .025, 95% confidence interval = −1.77 to −0.12). We also found a significant interaction between hypothalamus-related yielding and perceived social support on baseline heart rate variability (β = 0.51, SE = 0.23, z = 2.19, p = .028, 95% confidence interval = 0.05 to 0.97).

Conclusions 

Greater perceived social support was associated with lower C-reactive protein levels and greater baseline heart rate variability among individuals who were more likely to yield to social support in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and hypothalamus years earlier. The current study highlights the construct of yielding in the link between social support and physical health.