Study examines how social rank affects response to stress

Date:
March 31, 2023
Source:
Tulane University
Summary:
Scientists say their study could shed light on stress-related
mental illnesses but that more research is needed.


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FULL STORY ==========================================================================
Can an individual's social status have an impact on their level of stress? Researchers at Tulane University put that question to the test and
believe that social rank, particularly in females, does indeed affect
the stress response.


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In a study published in Current Biology, Tulane psychology professor
Jonathan Fadok, PhD, and postdoctoral researcher Lydia Smith-Osborne
looked at two forms of psychosocial stress -- social isolation and social instability -- and how they manifest themselves based on social rank.

They conducted their research on adult female mice, putting them in
pairs and allowing them to form a stable social relationship over several
days. In each pair, one of the mice had high, or dominant social status,
while the other was considered the subordinate with relatively low
social status. After establishing a baseline, they monitored changes in behavior, stress hormones and neuronal activation in response to chronic
social stress.

"We analyzed how these different forms of stress impact behavior and
the stress hormone corticosterone (an analogue of the human hormone,
cortisol) in individuals based on their social rank," said Fadok,
an assistant professor in the Tulane Department of Psychology and the
Tulane Brain Institute. "We also looked throughout the brain to identify
brain areas that are activated in response to psychosocial stress."
"We found that not only does rank inform how an individual responds to
chronic psychosocial stress, but that the type of stress also matters,"
said Smith- Osborne, a DVM/PhD and the first author on the study.

She discovered that mice with lower social status were more susceptible
to social instability, which is akin to ever-changing or inconsistent
social groups. Those with higher rank were more susceptible to social isolation, or loneliness.

There were also differences in the parts of the brain that became
activated by social encounters, based upon the social status of the animal responding to it and whether they had experienced psychosocial stress.

"Some areas of a dominant animal's brain would react differently to
social isolation than to social uncertainty, for example," Smith-Osborne
said. "And this was also true for subordinates. Rank gave the animals
a unique neurobiological 'fingerprint' for how they responded to
chronic stress." Do the researchers think the results can translate to
people? Perhaps, Fadok said.

"Overall, these findings may have implications for understanding the
impact that social status and social networks have on the prevalence
of stress-related mental illnesses such as generalized anxiety disorder
and major depression," he said. "However, future studies that use more
complex social situations are needed before these results can translate
to humans."
* RELATED_TOPICS
o Mind_&_Brain
# Psychology # Anxiety # Social_Psychology # Stress #
Relationships # Psychiatry # Mental_Health # Depression
* RELATED_TERMS
o Psychopathology o Psychology o Philosophy_of_mind o
Social_cognition o Aptitude o Collaboration o Psychologist
o Controversy_about_ADHD

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Tulane_University. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Lydia Smith-Osborne, Anh Duong, Alexis Resendez, Rupert Palme,
Jonathan
P. Fadok. Female dominance hierarchies influence responses to
psychosocial stressors. Current Biology, 2023; DOI: 10.1016/
j.cub.2023.03.020 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/03/230331131508.htm

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