Integrity Score 290
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While social relationships are the central source of emotional support for most people, social relationships can be highly stressful. For example, marriage is the most salient source of support and stress for many individuals, and poor marital quality has been associated with compromised immune and endocrine function. In addition, depressionsociological research shows that marital strain erodes physical health and that the negative effect of marital stress on health becomes more significant with advancing age.
Relationship stress undermines health through behavioral, psychosocial, and physiological pathways. For example, relationship stress contributes to poor health habits in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Stress contributes to psychological distress and physiological arousal (e.g., increased heart rate and blood pressure) that can damage health through cumulative wear and tear on physiological systems and by leading people of all ages to engage in unhealthy behaviours (e.g., food consumption, heavy drinking, smoking) to cope with stress and reduce unpleasant arousal
The propensity to engage in particular risky health behaviours in response to stress appears to vary over the life course. For example, stress is associated with more alcohol consumption in young adulthood and more significant weight gain in mid-life. Relationship stress also undermines a sense of personal control and mental health, both of which are, in turn, associated with poorer physical health.