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Updated: Oct 25, 2025

The Social Dimension of Stress: Experimental Manipulations of Social Support and Social Identity in the Trier Social Stress Test
Published on: November 19, 2015
Effects of social support in an academic context on low-grade inflammation in high school students
Edith Chen1,2,3, Régine Debrosse4, Paula J Ham5
1Northwestern University, 2029 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA. edith.chen@northwestern.edu.
Abstract:
Bolstering academic motivation is a high priority in school settings, but some evidence suggests this could take a toll on students' physical health. To address this, this study compared the effects of an experimental manipulation of academic motivation alone (AM) to academic motivation enhanced with social support (SS + AM) on markers of inflammation in a sample of 80 high school 9th graders. Outcomes included low-grade inflammation: C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6); a motivation measure; and grade point average (GPA), taken at baseline and follow-up (beginning and end of school year, respectively). Students in the SS + AM condition had lower levels of inflammation at follow-up (covarying baseline levels) compared to those in the AM condition. The two groups were equivalent on motivation and GPA at follow-up. This preliminary study suggests that incorporating social support into academic motivation programs has the potential to benefit inflammatory markers in young people while allowing them to maintain positive academic outcomes.
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