title: Social integration prospectively predicts changes in heart rate variability among individuals undergoing migration stress.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Poor social integration increases risk for poor health. The psychobiological pathways underlying this effect are not well-understood.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study utilized a migration stress model to prospectively investigate the impact of social integration on change in high-frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV), a marker of autonomic functioning.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty new international students were recruited shortly after their arrival in the host country and assessed 2 and 5 months later. At each assessment period, participants provided information on social integration and loneliness and had their resting HF-HRV evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was an overall decrease in HF-HRV over time. The magnitude of the within-person and between-person effects of social integration on HRV increased over time, such that greater social integration was associated with higher HF-HRV at later follow-ups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that altered autonomic functioning might represent a key pathway linking social integration to health outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke Street West, PY 170-14, Montreal, QC, H4B 1R6, Canada, jp.gouin@concordia.ca.
authors.forename: Jean-Philippe
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Gouin
authors.forename: Biru
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fitzpatrick
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000503:physiopathology*; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000523:psychology*; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D056152:Respiratory Rate / Q000502:physiology; D012934:Social Isolation / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult