ARE STRESS-INDUCED IMMUNOLOGICAL CHANGES MEDIATED BY MOOD - A CLOSER LOOK AT HOW BOTH DESIRABLE AND UNDESIRABLE DAILY EVENTS INFLUENCE SIGAANTIBODY

This investigation tested a three-path model of mood as a mediator of the relation between stress and immunity. Seventy-two married men comp leted end-of-day diaries in which they rated their mood for that day a nd the desirability of the day's events for 12 weeks. Events were code d as either desirable (nonstressful) or undesirable (stressful) in nat ure. Immunological functioning was assessed by secretory immunoglobuli n-A (sIgA) antibody response to an oral antigen. Regression analyses i ndicated that negative mood partially mediated the immunological respo nse to both undesirable and desirable events. Undesirable events lower ed antibody level primarily by increasing negative mood; desirable eve nts increased antibody levels by decreasing negative mood. Evidence fo r mediation by positive mood beyond that found for negative mood was w eak.