Social Relationships and Health: An Examination of Physiological Pathways

Monday, October 05, 2009

Bert N. Uchino, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Psychology
University of Utah

The quality of one’s social relationships has been reliably related to lower rates of morbidity and mortality. However, more research is needed on the more specific physiological mechanisms responsible for such links. In addition, relationships are not uniformly positive and models that take into account the complexity of our relationships are needed. In our program of research we have been examining these issues by modeling the influence of positivity and negativity in relationships on health-relevant physiological outcomes.