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We examined participation in an ethnically based residential program or “theme house” during the first year of college as a predictor of downstream immune system inflammation among undergraduates. Using a 4-year prospective design, we compared markers of inflammation among Latino/Latina students in a residential theme program with a matched sample of nonresidents. Students provided oral mucosal transudate samples for the assessment of circulating Interleukin 6 (IL-6), an inflammatory cytokine linked to health vulnerabilities. Findings suggest a protective benefit of theme house residency especially among students with anxious expectations of discrimination. Such expectations predicted higher levels of IL-6 after the first year of college among nonresidents only. In years 2–3, following exit from the theme house, the relationship between expected discrimination and IL-6 levels remained positive among nonresidents and was attenuated among residents, controlling for past IL-6 levels. Culturally based spaces may therefore offset the physiological burden of expected discrimination among undergraduates.

Low socioeconomic status (SES) during childhood confers risk for adverse health in adulthood. Accumulating evidence suggests that this may be due, in part, to the association between lower childhood SES and higher levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Drawing from literature showing that low childhood SES predicts exaggerated physiological reactivity to stressors and that lower SES is associated with a more communal, socially attuned orientation, we hypothesized that inflammatory reactivity would be more greatly affected by cues of social support among individuals whose childhood SES was low than among those whose childhood SES was high. In two studies, we found that individuals with lower subjective childhood SES exhibited greater reductions in pro-inflammatory cytokine reactivity to a stressor in the presence of a supportive figure (relative to conditions with an unsupportive or neutral figure). These effects were independent of current SES. This work helps illuminate SES-based differences in inflammatory reactivity to stressors, particularly among individuals whose childhood SES was low.

Low socioeconomic status (SES) during childhood confers risk for adverse health in adulthood. Accumulating evidence suggests that this may be due, in part, to the association between lower childhood SES and higher levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Drawing from literature showing that low childhood SES predicts exaggerated physiological reactivity to stressors and that lower SES is associated with a more communal, socially attuned orientation, we hypothesized that inflammatory reactivity would be more greatly affected by cues of social support among individuals whose childhood SES was low than among those whose childhood SES was high. In two studies, we found that individuals with lower subjective childhood SES exhibited greater reductions in pro-inflammatory cytokine reactivity to a stressor in the presence of a supportive figure (relative to conditions with an unsupportive or neutral figure). These effects were independent of current SES. This work helps illuminate SES-based differences in inflammatory reactivity to stressors, particularly among individuals whose childhood SES was low.

In response to social-evaluative threat induced in the laboratory, lower (compared to higher) subjective social class of a participant predicts greater increases in the inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6). In spite of the interpersonal nature of social-evaluation, little work has explored whether characteristics of the evaluator shape physiological responses in this context. In the current study, in a sample of 190 college students (male=66), we explored whether one's subjective social class interacts with the perceived social class of an evaluator to predict changes in Oral Mucosal Transudate (OMT) IL-6 in response to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). Participants were randomly assigned to be the speaker or the evaluator. Extending past work, we found that while speakers low in subjective social class consistently respond with strong increases in IL-6 regardless of their perception of their evaluator's social class, speakers high in subjective social class responded with greater increases in IL-6 when their evaluator was perceived as high social class compared to when they were perceived as low social class. This finding highlights the importance of perceptions of the evaluator in informing inflammatory responses to a social-evaluative task.

In response to social-evaluative threat induced in the laboratory, lower (compared to higher) subjective social class of a participant predicts greater increases in the inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6). In spite of the interpersonal nature of social-evaluation, little work has explored whether characteristics of the evaluator shape physiological responses in this context. In the current study, in a sample of 190 college students (male=66), we explored whether one's subjective social class interacts with the perceived social class of an evaluator to predict changes in Oral Mucosal Transudate (OMT) IL-6 in response to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). Participants were randomly assigned to be the speaker or the evaluator. Extending past work, we found that while speakers low in subjective social class consistently respond with strong increases in IL-6 regardless of their perception of their evaluator's social class, speakers high in subjective social class responded with greater increases in IL-6 when their evaluator was perceived as high social class compared to when they were perceived as low social class. This finding highlights the importance of perceptions of the evaluator in informing inflammatory responses to a social-evaluative task.

This research independently manipulated two potential attenuators of stereotype threat - reappraisal of anxiety and test framing - to explore their independent and combined effects. Female participants took a difficult math exam that was described as gender-biased or gender-fair and were told that anxious arousal could positively impact performance or were given no information regarding arousal. Levels of the cytokine Interleukin-6 (IL-6), an immune marker of inflammation, were measured in oral mucosal transudate (OMT) both before and after the exam. Our findings indicate that directing reappraisal of physiological arousal attenuated increases in IL-6 across test framing conditions, and was especially effective under stereotype threat (i.e., gender-biased test condition). Reappraisal also mapped onto better test performance in the threat condition. Together, these findings provide insight into the unique and interactive effects of two situational interventions meant to reduce stereotype threat, indexed here by both physiological and performance-based correlates of threat.

We experimentally tested whether negative stereotypes linked to lower socioeconomic status (SES), in addition to impairing academic performance (Croizet & Claire, 1998), instigate inflammation processes that are implicated in numerous disease processes. In Study 1, verbal test performance and activation of inflammation processes (measured by levels of an inflammatory protein, Interleukin-6 [IL-6]) varied as a function of SES and test framing (i.e., diagnostic vs. nondiagnostic of intellectual ability), with low SES students underperforming and exhibiting greater IL-6 production in the "diagnostic" condition. In Study 2, students expected their verbal exam performance to be compared to peers of higher or lower SES. Low SES students in the upward comparison condition displayed the greatest inflammatory response and worst test performance. Across both studies, different facets of SES predicted vulnerability to negative outcomes, such that low early life SES predicted heightened inflammation responses, while low current SES predicted impaired academic performance. © The Author(s) 2013.

BackgroundSubjective social status (captured by the MacArthur Scale of Subjective Social Status) is in many cases a stronger predictor of health outcomes than objective socioeconomic status (SES).PurposeThe study aims to test whether implicit beliefs about social class moderate the relationship between subjective social status and inflammation.MethodsWe measured implicit social class bias, subjective social status, SES, and baseline levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), a marker of inflammation, in 209 healthy adults.ResultsImplicit social class bias significantly moderated the relationship between subjective social status and levels of IL-6, with a stronger implicit association between the concepts "lower class" and "bad" predicting greater levels of IL-6.ConclusionsImplicit social class bias moderates the relationship between subjective social status and health outcomes via regulation of levels of the inflammatory cytokine IL-6. High implicit social class bias, particularly when one perceives oneself as having low social standing, may increase vulnerability to inflammatory processes.