Relationship anxiety may lower immunity.

• Position: Psychology - Brief article

Concerns and anxieties about close relationships appear to function as a chronic stressor that can compromise immunity, according to a study published in Psychological Science. The research focused on attachment anxiety. Those who are on the high end of the attachment anxiety spectrum excessively are concerned about being rejected, display a constant tendency to seek reassurance that they are loved, and are more likely to interpret ambiguous events in a relationship as negative.

Married partners who were more anxiously attached produced higher levels of Cortisol, a steroid hormone that is released in response to stress, and had fewer T cells--important components of the immune system's defense against infection--than did participants who were less anxiously attached.

"Everyone has these types of concerns now and again in their relationships, but a high level of attachment anxiety refers to people who have these worries fairly constantly in most of their relationships," explains psychologist...