Title
The role of co-rumination and adrenocortical attunement in young women's close friendships
Abstract
Attunement, or synchrony, of behavior and physiology has been well documented in family, mother-child, and romantic relationships. This study aimed to determine whether attunement of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis occurs in women's close friendships, and the role of a common social style, co-rumination in that attunement. Saliva samples (later assayed for cortisol) were collected from 37 dyads (74 individuals) during a laboratory task in which they were either asked to work together toward a common goal (control task) or discuss interpersonal problems, providing opportunity for co-rumination. Findings suggest that friends demonstrated adrenocortical attunement prior to engaging in either task, and that the level of attunement prior to the task predicted co-rumination and its components for both groups. Co-rumination, in turn, predicted adrenocortical attunement after the task. These findings suggest that bidirectional attunement of HPA activity may serve a bonding function within women's close friendships. Implications for how these findings fit with the tend-and-befriend hypothesis are discussed.
Department(s)
Psychology
Document Type
Article
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.07.027
Keywords
Attunement, Co-rumination, Cortisol, Friendship, Synchrony
Publication Date
12-1-2018
Recommended Citation
Rankin, Ashley, CaSandra Swearingen-Stanborough, Douglas A. Granger, and Jennifer Byrd-Craven. "The role of co-rumination and adrenocortical attunement in young women’s close friendships." Psychoneuroendocrinology 98 (2018): 61-66.
Journal Title
Psychoneuroendocrinology
