Attachment style and changes in systemic inflammation following migration to a new country among international students

ABSTRACT

Attachment style may influence the acculturation process by shaping the types of social relationships that individuals form and maintain. Social relationship quantity and quality have been linked to chronic low-grade systemic inflammation, an immune process associated with risk for age-related diseases. The goal of this study was to investigate whether attachment style moderates the change in systemic inflammation during the early phases of the acculturation process, a period associated with rapid changes in social functioning. In this 5-month longitudinal study, 58 new international students completed the Adult Attachment Scale and provided blood samples for C-reactive protein (CRP) analysis shortly after arrival in the host country as well as 2 and 5 months later. Results indicated that individuals with higher attachment anxiety experienced larger increases in CRP over time. During a period of rapid changes in social functioning, attachment anxiety promotes immune changes that may increase health risk over time.

KEYWORDS:

• Attachment style
• inflammation
• international students
• friendship
• social integration

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by grants from the Canada Research Chair program and the Canadian Institutes for Health Research. The authors would like to thank Biru Zhou, Diana Sitoianu and Daysi Zentner for their assistance in data collection.

Notes

1. In an analysis using only participants with complete data (N = 46), attachment anxiety significantly predicted change in CRP over time, β (SE) = .04 (.01), 95% CI [.02, .07], z = 3.21, p = .001.