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Objective: There is reason to believe that introversion may relate to different patterns of negative and positive experiences in everyday life ("hassles" and "uplifts"), but there is little evidence for this based on reports made in daily life as events occur. We thus extend the literature by using data from ecological momentary assessments to examine whether introversion is associated with either the frequency or intensity of hassles and uplifts., Method: Participants (N = 242) were community-dwelling adults (63% Black, 24% Hispanic; ages 25-65; 65% women) who completed baseline measures of personality and mental health, followed by reports of hassles and uplifts 5x/day for 14 days. We present associations between introversion and hassles/uplifts both with and without controlling for mood-related factors (neuroticism, recent symptoms of depression, and anxiety)., Results: Introversion was associated with reporting less frequent and less enjoyable uplifts, but not with overall hassle frequency or unpleasantness; exploratory analyses suggest associations with specific types of hassles., Conclusions: Our results expand understanding of the role of introversion in everyday experiences, suggesting an overall association between introversion and uplifts (but not hassles, broadly) in daily life. Better understanding of such connections may inform future research to determine mechanisms by which introversion relates to health., (© 2022 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Objective: Inflammation increases the risk of chronic diseases, but the links between emotional responses to daily events and inflammation are unknown. We examined individual differences in affective reactivity to daily stressors (i.e., changes in positive and negative affect in response to stressors) as predictors of inflammatory markers interleukin-6 (IL-6) and C-reactive protein (CRP)., Methods: A cross-sectional sample of 872 adults from the National Study of Daily Experiences (substudy of Midlife in the United States II) reported daily stressors and affect during telephone interviews for 8 days. Blood samples were obtained at a separate clinic visit and assayed for inflammatory markers. Multilevel models estimated trait affective reactivity slopes for each participant, which were inputted into regression models to predict inflammation., Results: People who experienced greater decreases in positive affect on days when stressors occurred (i.e., positive affect reactivity) had elevated log IL-6, independent of demographic, physical, psychological, and behavioral factors (B = 1.12, SE = 0.45, p = .01). Heightened negative affect reactivity was associated with higher log CRP among women (p = .03) but not men (p = .57); health behaviors accounted for this association in women., Conclusions: Adults who fail to maintain positive affect when faced with minor stressors in everyday life appear to have elevated levels of IL-6, a marker of inflammation. Women who experience increased negative affect when faced with minor stressors may be at particular risk of elevated inflammation. These findings add to growing evidence regarding the health implications of affective reactivity to daily stressors., ((c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).)

Background: Despite evidence that psychological stress is an important risk factor for age-related cognitive loss, little research has directly evaluated psychological and physiological mediators of the relationship between stressful experiences and cognitive function. A key objective of the ESCAPE (Effects of Stress on Cognitive Aging, Physiology, and Emotion) project is to evaluate whether engaging in stress-related unconstructive repetitive thought (URT) is a pathway through which stressful experiences negatively affect cognitive health over the short- and long-term. Over the short-term, we hypothesize that engaging in URT will deplete attentional resources and result in worse cognitive performance in daily life. Over the long-term, we expect that the effects of chronic stress, from repeated exposure to stressors and regular engagement in URT, will be apparent in dysregulated hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis function and inflammation. Over time, stress-related physiological dysregulation will result in accelerated cognitive decline., Methods/design: This study utilizes a prospective longitudinal measurement-burst design. A systematic probability sample of participants aged 25 to 65 is recruited from residents of the Bronx, NY. Consenting participants complete a baseline assessment and follow-up waves at 9, 18, and 27 months post-baseline. At each wave, participants complete a 14 day measurement burst of brief surveys and cognitive assessments delivered via study smartphones during daily life. Participants provide saliva samples four times each day for five days during the measurement burst and fasting blood samples at the end of each burst from which cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS), circulating inflammatory markers, and stimulated inflammatory responses to lipopolysaccharide in whole blood are determined., Discussion: This study takes a multi-pronged approach to assessing stress (i.e., early adversity, chronic strains, major events, daily hassles), psychological mediators (e.g., URT), biological mechanisms (i.e., HPA function, inflammation) and outcomes across different time-scales (i.e., momentary cognitive performance, cognitive decline across years). The systematic probability sample is locally representative and can be compared with national norms on key markers of health and well-being. The findings will improve our understanding of how environmental, psychological, and physiological stress-related influences accumulate to affect cognitive health and identify potential targets (e.g., URT, inflammation) for prevention and intervention promoting cognitive health.

There is burgeoning interest in the ability to detect inflammatory markers in response to stress within naturally occurring social contexts and/or across multiple time points per day within individuals. Salivary collection is a less invasive process than current methods of blood collection and enables intensive naturalistic methodologies, such as those involving extensive repeated measures per day over time. Yet the reliability and validity of saliva-based to blood-based inflammatory biomarkers in response to stress remains unclear. We review and synthesize the published studies that have examined salivary markers of inflammation following exposure to an acute laboratory stressor. Results from each study are reviewed by analyte (IL-1β, TNF-α, IL-6, IL-2, IL-4, IL-10, IL-12, CRP) and stress type (social-cognitive and exercise-physical), after which methodological issues and limitations are addressed. Although the literature is limited, several inflammatory markers (including IL-1β, TNF-α, and IL-6) have been reliably determined from saliva and have increased significantly in response to stress across multiple studies, with effect sizes ranging from very small to very large. Although CRP from saliva has been associated with CRP in circulating blood more consistently than other biomarkers have been associated with their counterparts in blood, evidence demonstrating it reliably responds to acute stress is absent. Although the current literature is presently too limited to allow broad assertion that inflammatory biomarkers determined from saliva are valuable for examining acute stress responses, this review suggests that specific targets may be valid and highlights specific areas of need for future research., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)