A preliminary investigation of attachment style and inflammation in African-American young adults

ABSTRACT

Individuals’ social experiences are associated with their mental health, physical health, and even mortality. Over the last 30 years, researchers have examined the ways in which these social experiences might be associated with chronic inflammation – a component underlying many of the chronic diseases of aging. Little research, however, has examined the role of adults’ attachment style as a specific social component that might be associated with inflammation. In the present study, we utilized data from a sample of 59 African-American adults from the Maryland Adolescent Development in Context Study (MADICS) to examine the links between attachment avoidance and attachment anxiety and C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin (IL)-6. After controlling for demographic characteristics, body mass index, and depressive symptoms, attachment avoidance and anxiety were associated with IL-6 but not CRP. This study adds to the growing body of research identifying the wide range of social experiences associated with inflammation and further suggests that attachment relationship experiences may have implications for biological processes relevant to many chronic diseases of aging.

KEYWORDS:

• Attachment avoidance
• attachment anxiety
• inflammation
• depressive symptoms

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the following grants from the National Insitutes of Health: R01 HD048970, RC2 AG0367800, F32 HD076563, and DP2 MD013947. Support was also provided by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (No. DGE 1322106) to JS.