Key studies: Stress and the Immune System
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- Created on: 31-05-13 17:21
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- KEY STUDIES: Stress related illness: The immune system
- Kiecolt-Glaser et al. (1995)
- Method
- In a study with independent measures design, a punch biopsy was used to create a small wound on the arms of 13 women who cared for relatives with Alzheimer's disease. A control group of 13 people also took part.
- Results & Conclusion
- Wound healing took an average of 9 days longer for the carers compared with the control group and so we can deduce that long term stress impairs the effectiveness of the immune system to heal wounds.
- Evaluation
- Sweeny (1995) also found that people caring for relatives with dementia took longer than a control group to heal. However, for both studies the two groups may have varied in other ways apart from the stress of being a carer.
- The effects on the carers could be due to other factors such as lack of sleep, poor diet etc. The study also contained a small number of participants - for more reliable results it should be repeated with a larger number of participants.
- Sweeny (1995) also found that people caring for relatives with dementia took longer than a control group to heal. However, for both studies the two groups may have varied in other ways apart from the stress of being a carer.
- Evaluation
- Wound healing took an average of 9 days longer for the carers compared with the control group and so we can deduce that long term stress impairs the effectiveness of the immune system to heal wounds.
- Results & Conclusion
- In a study with independent measures design, a punch biopsy was used to create a small wound on the arms of 13 women who cared for relatives with Alzheimer's disease. A control group of 13 people also took part.
- Method
- Kiecolt-Glaser er all (1984)
- Method
- Natural experiment to investigate whether the stress of short term stressors had an effect on the immune system.
- Blood samples were taken one month (low stress) and during the exam period itself (high stress). Immune system functioning was assessed by measuring NK cell activity.
- Natural experiment to investigate whether the stress of short term stressors had an effect on the immune system.
- Findings
- NK cell activity was reduced in the second blood sample compared to the sample taken one month before.
- This suggests that short-term, predictable stressors reduce immune system functioning, making it more vulnerable to illness.
- NK cell activity was reduced in the second blood sample compared to the sample taken one month before.
- Method
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- Malarkey et al. (1994)
- Studied 90 newly-wed couples over a 24 hour period in a laboratory.
- Chronic stress (long term)
- The couples were asked to discuss and resolve marital issues that were most likely to produce conflict (e.g finances)
- The marital conflict produced changes in levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline which is believed to lead to poor functioning of the immune system.
- It is also believed that mental conflict would be more negative and would last longer at home, therefore the affects on the immune system would be worse.
- Individual differences
- Women show more adverse hormonal and immunological changes in the way they react to marital conflict (Kiecolt-Glaser et al.)
- As people age, stress has a greater effect on the immune system making it harder to regulate itself (Segerstorm and Miller, 2004)
- Women show more adverse hormonal and immunological changes in the way they react to marital conflict (Kiecolt-Glaser et al.)
- Kiecolt-Glaser et al. (1995)
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