Inflammation during Marital Conflict

Relationship conflict is a stressful experience for couples and stress can disrupt the balance within the immune system. In particular, stressful experiences tend to be linked with an upregulation of cytokines. In this study, I examined whether being the target of oppositional behavior from one's partner during a conflict interaction—a factor that is linked with greater stress during conflict—would be associated with upregulation of the cytokine interleukin-1β. Data were drawn from a sample of newlywed couples; interleukin-1β was assayed from saliva samples collected before and after four conflict interactions. This study extends the literature in three meaningful ways: (1) analyses differentiated between third-party observers' assessments of partner oppositional behavior and individuals' perceptions of partner oppositional behavior, (2) effects of the discrete conflict observed in the lab were isolated by accounting for critical covariates that indicate greater relationship conflict more generally, and (3) moderation analyses tested whether individual differences associated with greater sensitivity to conflict exacerbated the association between partner oppositional behavior and post-conflict interleukin-1β. Overall, the results largely did not support my hypotheses. However, an effect in the opposite direction to my predictions emerged: individuals with high self-esteem, compared to those with low self-esteem, experienced greater cytokine upregulation when they perceived partner opposition. There was also a trend for men to experience greater upregulation than women when perceiving partner opposition. Findings are discussed in light of differences in cytokine measurement between the current study which assessed interleukin-1β in saliva and past research which focused on assessments of other cytokines in plasma. Overall, findings highlight the importance of examining perceptions and individual difference variables when examining links between relationship conflict and health.