Decades of research suggest that positive and negative psychosocial factors are associated with markers of physical health, including response to vaccination (Burns et al., 2003b; Uchino et al., 2020). Additionally, the variability or fluctuations within psychosocial experiences can serve as unique predictors for health (Eizenman et al., 1997; Ross et al., 2013). Findings from past research exploring the role of psychosocial experiences on adaptive immune function are mixed, and little work has explored how the variability within these experiences is associated with adaptive immune function (Jenkins et al., 2018). A sample of 100 adolescents and adults (66% Female, 93% White, Mage = 48.3, SD = 20.8, Age Range = 11 – 86 yrs.) received the influenza vaccine, provided pre- and post-vaccination blood samples (approximately one month apart), and reported on their daily experiences of stressful events, perceived stress, self-disclosure, perceived responsiveness, positive and negative mood, and sleep across seven days. Hierarchical linear regression was used to explore how (a) the average levels of each construct (i.e., a participant’s mean value across all seven days) and (b) the variability within each construct (i.e., a participant’s standard deviation across all seven days) were associated with antibody production following vaccination. Contrary to our hypotheses, there were no associations between any of the average-level or variability predictors and antibody response at one month following vaccination for any of the constructs. Future research should focus on recruiting larger samples to further elucidate the influence of psychosocial experiences on antibody production and maintenance following vaccination.
