Loneliness and immune gene expression in Korean adults: The moderating effect of social orientation.

Abstract

Loneliness, the distress experienced from a perceived lack of desired interpersonal relationship, is detrimental to mental and physical well-being. One of the physiological correlates of chronic loneliness is alteration of immune transcriptional profiles, characterized by up-regulation of proinflammatory response and down-regulation of antiviral response, called conserved transcriptional response to adversity (CTRA) gene expression. Here, we examined whether the loneliness-CTRA link would be moderated by individual differences in social orientation-that is, the degree to which individuals are collectivistic versus individualistic. In a sample of 152 Korean adults (aged 20 to 69, mean age = 44.64, 50% female), we examined the relationship between loneliness and blood cell CTRA gene expression as moderated by individual levels of collectivism (vs. individualism). As predicted, social orientation significantly moderated the loneliness-CTRA link. Loneliness was associated with elevated CTRA expression among Koreans with high levels of collectivism (vs. individualism). In contrast, the loneliness-CTRA link was completely absent among those with lower levels of collectivism (vs. individualism). The current finding highlights the role that individual variation in social orientation plays in modulating the risk of loneliness on adverse health outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).