title: Psychosocial distress and inflammation: Which way does causality flow?
abstract: This study queried causal direction in linkages of inflammation with psychosocial distress.
  
  
  
  Data were from the 2005-2006 and 2010-2011 waves of the U.S. National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project. Inflammation was indicated by C-reactive protein, and distress by depression, anxiety, as well as stress. Autoregressive cross-lagged panel models were used to examine causal direction.
  
  
  
  Rather than being an outcome of psychosocial distress, inflammation was a predictor of it. Linkages were gender differentiated, with inflammation seeming to induce depression among men but stress among women.
  
  
  
  Contrary to previous literature, inflammation may not be a mechanism through which psychosocial distress gets "under the skin" to cause cardiovascular and metabolic issues. Rather, it may be a node through which social pathologies and life events influence both mental health and physiological problems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, McGill University, Room 712, Leacock Building, 855 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Quebec H3A 2T7, Canada. Electronic address: aniruddha.das@mcgill.ca.
authors.forename: Aniruddha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Das
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001007:Anxiety / Q000209:etiology; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000032:analysis; D015984:Causality; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000150:complications* / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011584:Psychology; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D012737:Sex Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications / Q000209:etiology*
chemical_list: D002097:C-Reactive Protein
keywords: Inflammation; NSHAP; Older adults; Psychosocial distress