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Embodying psychological thriving: physical thriving in response to stress - Thriving: Broadening the Paradigm Beyond Illness to Health
Journal of Social Issues, Summer, 1998 by Elissa S. Epel, Bruce S. McEwen, Jeannette R. Ickovics
High levels of control, as both a psychological variable (perceived control) as well as a social variable (control over resources), may be a necessary condition for physiological thriving. Without control and resources to cope with daily hassles and larger crises, we are more likely to appraise stimuli as threats to our survival rather than opportunities to grow. Thus, one's life circumstances and environment, such as poverty, may limit or offer opportunity to develop physical thriving. Social class, one of the largest determinants of health (Adler et al., 1994), may also influence physical thriving. People of higher social class have less chronic stress, more resources, and a greater ability to use organizational and institutional resources (O'Leary & Ickovics, 1995).
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Although we are aware of no studies that have directly examined anabolic hormones and social class in humans, we can learn from analogous measures of social status in animals. Socially subordinate baboons have a lower growth index - dramatically lower IGF-1, as well as around 50% higher basal cortisol - than socially dominant ones. Further, longitudinal data suggest that the lower IGF-1 is a consequence rather than correlate of low social rank (Sapolsky & Spencer, 1997). It is not surprising that dominant baboons have greater anabolic functioning than socially subordinate baboons, who have to cope with limited access to resources and less control over their environment. There are many other examples from animal research that subordinate animals have a lower growth index (e.g., higher cortisol, lower testosterone) and other indices of poor health (Blanchard, Sakai, McEwen, Weiss, & Blanchard, 1993; Sapolsky, 1982).
Healthy aging can serve as a global and longitudinal measure of good health and may shed light on factors leading to such thriving. Healthy aging is related to the same psychological variables as our micro measure of health: healthy hormonal responses. For example, good health in old age is related to high self-esteem (Thomas, 1982), control, power, and decision making (Beckingham & Watt, 1995). Maintaining personal control was a factor common to a subgroup of very old people (81-91 years old) with good health; they tended to live on their own, actively plan and direct their life, and maintain social contacts rather than engage in routine family responsibilities (Neikrug, Ronen, Glanz, & Alon, 1995). Styles of cognitive appraisals have also been related to thriving later in life; in an elderly sample, positive appraisals of loss events were related to high stamina, whereas viewing loss as threatening was related to low levels of stamina (Colerick, 1985). These same psychological constructs - positive appraisals and perceptions of control - also lead to resilient hormone responding and a positive growth index, as previously reviewed. Therefore, we can infer that these psychological factors may lead to enhanced health and longevity in part through influencing endocrine system activity.
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