DEFENSIVENESS, TRAIT ANXIETY, AND EPSTEIN-BARR VIRAL CAPSID ANTIGEN-ANTIBODY TITERS IN HEALTHY COLLEGE-STUDENTS

The relationship of individual differences in repressive coping styles with differences in antibody titer to Epstein-Barr viral capsid antig en (EBV-VCA) were investigated in a normal, healthy college population made up of people previously exposed to EBV. Each of 54 1st-year unde rgraduates completed a battery of physical-status questions and items pertaining to potential behavioral immunomodulatory confounds, along w ith the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale (T-MAS) and the Marlowe-Crowne S ocial Desirability Scale (MC-SDS). Ss reporting high and middle levels of anxiety had higher antibody titers to EBV, suggesting poorer immun e control over the latent virus, as compared with the low-anxious grou p. Similarly, high-defensive Ss had higher antibody titers than their low-defensive counterparts, and neither group differed from the middle group.