Association of negative and positive social ties with fibrinogen levels inyoung women

The associations between positive and negative aspects of social relationsh ips and fibrinogen, a risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD), were ex amined in young, healthy women recruited from the community (n = 46) and fr om a college campus (n = 42). For community women, the perception that indi viduals in their social networks frequently undermined them was related to higher fibrinogen, independent of perceived frequency of support. For colle ge women, fibrinogen was elevated among women with frequent undermining onl y when they also reported infrequent support. After controlling for other r isk factors, the associations between social ties and fibrinogen remained s ignificant in both samples. These results indicate that positive and negati ve social ties are associated with fibrinogen levels and suggest that socia l relationships may affect CMD risk in part through their influence on fibr inogen.