title: Loneliness, eudaimonia, and the human conserved transcriptional response to adversity.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Chronic social adversity activates a conserved transcriptional response to adversity (CTRA) marked by increased expression of pro-inflammatory genes and decreased expression of antiviral- and antibody-related genes. Recent findings suggest that some psychological resilience factors may help buffer CTRA activation, but the relative impact of resilience and adversity factors remains poorly understood. Here we examined the relative strength of CTRA association for the two best-established psychological correlates of CTRA gene expression-the risk factor of perceived social isolation (loneliness) and the resilience factor of eudaimonic well-being (purpose and meaning in life).
  
  
  METHODS
  Peripheral blood samples and validated measures of loneliness and eudaimonic well-being were analyzed in 108 community-dwelling older adults participating in the longitudinal US Health and Retirement Study (56% female, mean age 73). Mixed effect linear model analyses quantified the strength of association between CTRA gene expression and measures of loneliness and eudaimonic well-being in separate and joint analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  As in previous studies, separate analyses found CTRA gene expression to be up-regulated in association with loneliness and down-regulated in association with eudaimonic well-being. In joint analyses, effects of loneliness were completely abrogated whereas eudaimonic well-being continued to associate with CTRA down-regulation. Similar eudaimonia-dominant effects were observed for positive and negative affect, optimism and pessimism, and anxiety symptoms. All results were independent of demographic and behavioral health risk factors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Eudaimonic well-being may have the potential to compensate for the adverse impact of loneliness on CTRA gene expression. Findings suggest a novel approach to targeting the health risks associated with social isolation by promoting purpose and meaning in life.
authors.affiliation: David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. Electronic address: steve.cole@ucla.edu.
authors.forename: Steven W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Cole
authors.affiliation: David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
authors.forename: Morgan E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Levine
authors.affiliation: David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
authors.forename: Jesusa M G
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Arevalo
authors.affiliation: David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: David R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Weir
authors.affiliation: Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
authors.forename: Eileen M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Crimmins
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015536:Down-Regulation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology; D008132:Loneliness / Q000523:psychology*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D012934:Social Isolation; D012944:Social Support; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology; D059467:Transcriptome
keywords: Eudaimonia; Gene expression; Microarray; Positive psychology; Psychological well-being; Psychoneuroimmunology; Social genomics; Social support; Stress; Transcriptome