RESEARCH INTO THE EFFECTS OF STRESS ON IMMUNE FUNCTION

RESEARCH INTO THE EFFECTS OF STRESS ON THE IMMUNE SYSTEMCOHEN ET AL 1993 394 participants completed questionnaire on stressful life events in past year rated their stress levels and negative emotions stress index created from 3 scores, ranged from 3-12 participants exposed to one of fie cold viruses administered through nasal drops diagnosed after 7 days by a doctor number of participants who developed colds was recorded all showed signs of infection 82% developed a cold direct link between stress and illness those scoring highly on stress index most likely to develop the cold +high internal validity due to controlled variables such as age, weight and smoking etc. meaning we can be more certain that the development of the cold was less likely to be due to factors other than stress-unclear cause and effect relationship and so cannot be sure that immune function is affected by stress levels. e.g. does being stressed lead to illness or does illness lead to stress. a cyclic process?