Results showed the following factors as the most relevant to young people: "Being able to be close, communicate and strengthen my bonds with loved ones" (X=3,1; SD=0,8), "To think that my life has had some meaning" (X=3,0; SD=1,1), "To think that my death won't cause an unbearable burden to loved ones" (X=2,9; SD=1,1). On the other hand, the less important aspects were: "Believing in other life after death" (X=1,5; SD= 1,5), "To think that I may die at home" (X=1,8; SD=1,3), "To think that my dying process will be short in case of suffering" (X= 2,3; SD=1,4) and "Not to feel guilty about past personal conflicts" (X=2,3; SD=1,4). (2004). Results showed family satisfaction in descending order, so family members were more pleased in relation to "satisfaction with medical care to patients" (81,5%), "best care given to patients" (77,8%), "be called with some significant change in patients' condition" (75,9%) "care about the patients from hospital personnel" (74,1%), "understanding about patient's situation and procedures applied" (74,1%) and "honesty of the information provided" (70,9%). Lesser degree, they were satisfied in "explanations about patient's condition", "staff members attention to family" and "loneliness/isolation in the waiting area" (61-67%). Finally, the results pointed as the fewest satisfied aspects those connected with "comfort about visiting patients in ICU" (47,3%) "interest showed by staff members"(32,7%), "explanation about the equipment used" (25,9%) and "comfort of waiting room" (11,5%). These findings show that family members satisfaction to their ICU's experience was quite good in general. It is necessary taking into account those improvable aspects in order to provide them the best stay in our ICUs. BACKGROUND: Evidence on the association between social status inconsistency (SI) and self-reported health is limited and mixed. Moreover, only little research has been done to examine the pathway through which SI affects health. Therefore we analysed the mediating effect of effort-reward imbalance at work (ERI) on this association. METHODS: Analyses were based on a random sample of 1111 male employees (25-64 years) from the south-west of Germany. Data were collected by a telephone interview in 2008/09. Information on socio-demographic variables, social status indicators (education, occupational grade and income), occupational strain (ERI), and physical as well as mental health (SF-12) were given. RESULTS: SI was significantly associated to low mental health, both directly and, consistent to our hypothesis, indirectly via low rewards. As SI was also related to low effort, no association was found for the quotient of both scales (ERI) and mental health. The effect of SI on physical health was entirely mediated by low rewards without any direct effect. The inclusion of further risk factors (age, BMI) did not attenuate these Results: CONCLUSION: SI is significantly associated to ill health. Moreover, results indicate that at least a part of this relationship is explained by low rewards at work, findings with implications for further research in job strain and health inequality. Selection of a spouse reflects the cultural values of society. Spouse selection in the west is based primarily on falling-in-love whereas in India, selecting a spouse has been traditionally arranged. As a result of globalization, western influence in India is on the rise requiring a traditional society to modify its cultural norms. While arranged marriage is still prevalent in India, a new mode of marriage, love marriage, is becoming increasingly common. This transition introduces new social stressors, which may impact health. We hypothesize that traditional individuals will feel conflicted by the shift in cultural norms toward a more nontraditional system and possibly experience symptoms of depression. To test the hypothesis, a group of 350 college students in Mumbai, a major metropolis of India undergoing rapid cultural change in recent years were surveyed. We administered questionnaires measuring the influence exerted by tradition on mate Subjective socioeconomic status (SES) impacts health independently of objective SES. However, little is known about variables that contribute to perception of social standing other than objective SES, which is only modestly correlated with subjective SES. Spirituality also impacts on health and may synergistically interact with perceived SES to predict health. It is hypothesized that Subjective SES will correlate positively with Spirituality. And spirituality and subjective SES will predict health outcomes after controlling for objective SES. Urban college students (N=568; Mean Age: 19 years; 73.1% Female; Religion: 46.3% Christian; 37.3% Hindu; Other: 16.4%) in Mumbai, India completed questionnaires on Spiritual Well-Being (SWB) measuring Existential (EWB) and Religious Well-Being (RWB), somatic symptoms (CHIPS), subjective SES and objective SES. Results indicated that objective SES and subjective SES were positively but modestly correlated (r=.20, p<.001). There was a negative relationship between objective SES and SWB, RWB and CHIPS (r=−.11, p<.05; -.20, p<.001; -.10, p<.05, respectively) and between subjective SES and RWB and CHIPS (r=−.12, p<.005; -.20, p<.001, respectively). These data indicate that high SESperceived and actual -is associated with lower engagement in prayer and relationship with a higher spiritual power and with fewer somatic symptoms than low SES. There was no correlation found between objective SES and EWB and subjective SES and EWB were positively correlated (r=.20, p<.001) indicating that perceived social standing is associated with life satisfaction and stability. These data indicate the complexity of variables that contribute to material and spiritual well-being and its interaction with health where subjectively poor people engage more in religious practice and do not experience existential satisfaction and report more somatic symptoms. Discussions about medical information banks may influence decisions to participate in genetic biobanks. Project Diversity GATHER (Group discussions Around Themes on HEalthful genetic Research) examines demographics and health care perceptions that may affect willingness to participate in genetic biobanking. Participants (N=135, 63% female; mean age=46.67, SD=17.17, range =18-87) completed sociodemographic and psychosocial questionnaires and a one-hour focus group. Participants selfidentified as Black (49.2%), White (36.2%), Pacific Islander (2.3%), American Indian (2.3%), Asian (1.5%) and Other (8.5%); 19.3% of participants were Latino. Univariate and bivariate descriptive analyses and t-tests were performed where appropriate. Univariate and multivariate logistic regressions were applied to compare differences in (un)adjusted odds of who was willing to participate in biobanking vs. not controlling for confounds. Participants unwilling to participate in genetic biobanking had higher health care distrust than willing participants [t(126) = −3.14, p<.01]. Logistic regression models compared participants willing to participate in genetic biobankIng vs. not. Univariate logistic regressions noted significant relationships for race/ethnicity (OR=0.30, 95%CI=0.12-0.75), primary care physician status (OR=0.51, 95%CI=1.03-1.18), and health care system beliefs (OR=1.11, 95%CI=1.02-1.18), with gender, age, and education level yielding nonsignificant relationships. Multivariate analyses confirmed race/ethnicity (OR=0.25, 95%CI=0.09-0.70) and health care beliefs (OR=1.10, 95%CI=1.02-1.18) to be significant predictors. Participants characterized as racial/ethnic minorities or who are distrustful of the health care system may be less likely to participate in genetic biobanking. Our findings support previous research in this area and may help to explain why medical research often underrepresents racial/ ethnic minority groups. The relationship between health care distrust and unwillingness to participate in genetic biobanking highlights potential recruitment barriers in genetic testing. Clinicians and researchers may wish to assess and attend to distrust in patients for whom genetic testing is clinically indicated. Our purpose was to predict systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP, DBP) and heart rate (HR) during 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring using respective diagnostic values of BP and HR, and measures of social support as predictors in a hierarchical regression analysis. The predicted periods of the ambulatory BP monitoring were 24-hours, morning, evening, and night. The participants were 95 healthy men with different BP levels from the Tampere Ambulatory Blood Pressure Study. The participants could be treated as one group, because the diagnostic BPs were normally distributed. The measures of social support were the total score of the Interview for Social Interaction (ISSI; Henderson, Byrne, & Duncan-Jones, 1981) and five subscales of it. The first sets in the hierarchical regression analysis had the respective diagnostic values of BP and HR as predictors. These were all significant predictors of daily cardiovascular measures as expected. In the second series of sets, the total score of ISSI and the subscale scores of it were added to the models, respectively. The prediction of ambulatory cardiovascular measures improved by up to 3% by adding the Adequacy of Social Integration (ADSI), a subscale of ISSI to the diagnostic SBPs. In conclusion, one specific measure of social support, the Adequacy of Social Integration (but not others) improved the prediction of cardiovascular measures in daily life. These results are in line with previous findings emphasizing the function of the quality of social support as a buffer in daily life. (Chaix et al. Hypertension, 2010) suggest that central adiposity and heart rate account for a sizable amount of the inverse association between individual education and SBP in a French cohort: body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference explained 28% and resting heart rate, 15% of this association. Psychological factors and health behaviors also helped account for the education-SBP association, but to a much smaller degree. We used data on a nationally representative U.S. sample of 15,701 young adult participants aged 24-32 years in Add Health, Wave IV, to determine whether a similar education-SBP association exists in a U.S. cohort and to examine several potential mediators of it. Individual education level was associated with SBP (p< 0.0001) as follows: Some high school or less, N=1212, SBP= 126.0+14.1(S.D.)mmHg; Graduated high school, N=2453, SBP= 126.6+13.9 mmHg; Some college or vocational tech, N=6710, SBP=124.7+13.8 mmHg; Bachelors degree, N=2942, SBP= 123.2+13.1 mmHg, and; Graduate school or more, N=1845, SBP=122.0+12.7 mmHg. When the education-SBP association was adjusted for BMI, the 4.0 mmHg difference in SBP between the lowest and highest education groups was reduced to 2.7 mmHg. Further adjustment for gender, race/ethnicity, physical activity, alcohol consumption, smoking, marital status, employment status, income, presence of financial strain and home ownership reduced the SBP difference to 0.6 mmHg. These findings replicate in a U.S. cohort the finding in a French cohort of a robust association between lower education level and increased SBP. In the larger Add Health sample, this association was nearly completely accounted for by BMI, race/ethnicity, gender, marital status and lifestyle characteristics. Introduction: Many patients fear upper gastrointestinal endoscopies. Natural anxiety may be aggravated by horror stories from friends or inappropriate remarks by endoscopy staff. Shavasan is probably the best-known relaxation exercise. Through relaxation of muscle tension, an anxiety free sate is reached. Objective: The study was to examine effects of relaxation in Shavasan posture in patients undergoing upper GI endoscopies. Method: Study was conducted on 63 consecutive patients between ages of 16 to 86 years. Patients were randomly assigned to two groups regardless of sex, age and underlying disease. Thirty one patients relaxed in shavasan, before and during procedure, while 32 patients did not. No patients were given sedation or local anesthetic spray. Blood pressure, heart and respiratory rate were recorded. Perception of procedure using a 5-point attitude scale was assessed. Results: Paired T-test was used to analyze the data. Test group results showed significant difference in three parameters i.e. blood pressure, systolic, heart and respiratory rate in the difference of values at the beginning and end of procedure. Control group did not show statistically significant difference in any parameters. However, data comparison in two groups showed statistically significantly difference in the heart and respiratory rate. More patients in test group reported decrease in distress. Conclusion: This preliminary study shows the effect of relaxation in Shavasan posture. Repeated practice is necessary to attain quick de-stressed state in distress. We suggest that this exercise could be applied to any other medical situations as well, which tend to generate undue psychological stress and anxiety. Problem: Coping resources can be of great assistance when one is placed in stressful situations because they influence whether or not the stressor is directly approached or avoided (Taylor & Stanton, 2007 ). This research proposes that self esteem, a key dispositional factor will reduce perceived stress for African Americans. Further, effective coping strategies may moderate the impact of self esteem on stress. This research hypothesizes that lower perceived stress will be predicted by higher self esteem and that effective coping strategies will increase this relationship. Procedure: 146 African American college students in small groups completed measures of self esteem, coping strategies and perceived stress. Results: As expected, low self esteem (r=−.29 p<.01; Rsquare= .09 β=−.29, t=−3.56 p<.01) predicted higher perceived stress. In addition, seeking social support(Rsquare=.15, β=.23 t=2.63 p<.01), an active coping strategy, and wishful thinking (Rsquare= .25, β =−.21 t=−2.78 p< .01), an avoidant coping strategy moderated the relationship between self esteem and perceived stress. Low social support seekers and high wishful thinkers showed stronger impacts of lower self esteem on increased stress. The coping strategy of seeking social support was not independently correlated with perceived stress but "wishful thinking" (r=.35 p<.01) was. Conclusion: This study found that low self esteem is directly related to increased perceived stress among African Americans. The inclination to seek social support reduces low self esteem individual's perception of a situation as stressful. However, wishful thinking increased the likelihood that an individual with low self esteem would perceive an environment as stressful. These findings suggest that cognitive-behavioral prevention programs that seek to alleviate stress among African Americans who have low self esteem should emphasize the importance of creating trusted social support systems and realistically assessing the magnitude of a problem in an effort to better manage one's stress responses. AIM: To explore the influence of occupational stress on mental health in Industrial worker. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 561 workers. The workers were invited to fill in a self-administered questionnaire exploring their socio-demographic characteristics, occupational stress levels, and 12-item general health questionnaire. A hierarchical multiple regression procedure was used to assess the effects of occupational stress on mental health. RESULTS: After controlling for age, educational level, marital status and years of offshore work, poor mental health was found to have a significant positive association with seven of the nine identified sources of occupational stress. They were: conflict between job and family/ social life, poor development of career and achievement at work, safety problems at work, management problems and poor relationship with others at work, poor physical environment of the work place, uncomfortable ergonomic factors at work, and poor organizational structure at work. All of these occupational stress sources together explained 19.9% of the total variance. CONCLUSIONS: The results confirmed that occupational stress was a major risk factor for poor mental health among industrial workers. Reducing or eliminating occupational stressors at work would benefit workers' mental health in developing country like Nepal. There should be some meditation program, behovior change and rest for workers to reduce the occupational Health Undergoing medical procedures, such as an amniocentesis, is stressful for pregnant women because they are often in a state of heightened anxiety about the well-being of their unborn child and experience uncertainness and possibly also increased physical discomfort. The aim of the pilot study was to evaluate the impact of an amniocentesis during pregnancy on cardiovascular stress response. Twelve healthy pregnant women in the second trimester of pregnancy (age: M=38.1, SD=2.8), underwent an amniocentesis during which heart rate (HR) and Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia (RSA) were measured continuously, beginning 20 minutes before the examination and lasting until 30 minutes after termination of the examination. Additionally, a questionnaire was distributed to measure the participants' general control conviction in life. Analyses revealed a significant decrease of HR (p<.001) and a concomitant increase of RSA (p=.036). Furthermore, a general fatalistic control expectation attitude was associated with a smaller decrease in HR (r=.616, p=.077) and a smaller increase in RSA (r=−.735, p=.024) after the procedure. Our findings reveal a harmful anticipatory cardiovascular stress response in pregnant women prior to an invasive medical procedure with an anticipatory increase of HR primarily mediated by a decrease in cardiovagal activity as indexed by RSA. Furthermore, a fatalistic control conviction seems to dampen stress reactivity. Based on these findings, adjuvant stressprotective psychological intervention and counseling with special focus on control conviction should be considered for pregnant women undergoing medical procedures. Objective: Breathing control therapy may reduces emotion, but the neural underpinning of this effect is unknown. We induced emotion with aversive pictures in 20 subjects and using a breath control procedure to test a hypothesis that (a) Breathing control alters the visceral feedback as reflected in the insula activation (that reflects interoception), and (b) This leads to reduced fear as reflected in amygdala activation. Method: Subjects went through fMRI scanning while observing Neutral Pictures, Emotional Pictures and then practiced breathing control (Exp Group) or no breathing control (Control group) . Results: (a) Aversive pictures activated left amygdale and right insula in the control group. (b) The activations at the same areas were altered in the experimental group that practiced the breathing control procedure. Discussion: Intervention of emotion-related breathing can modulate left amygdala activation indicative of reduced fear and this effect cooccurred with altered activation at the right insula cortex indicative of altered interceptive feedback. Conclusion: Breathing control therapy involves altered activation of insula and amygdala. Mindfulness meditation is an ancient meditation technique with a modern name based on the concept of mindfulness, a relatively recent psychological construct. This form of meditation is rooted in Buddhist Vipassana and Zen practices, and involves momentby-moment, detached awareness and observation of the continually changing field of perception and its contents. Albeit the interest to verify the clinical efficacy of mindfulness practice has grown considerably in the last years, its specific psychobiological profile has been scarcely investigated, particularly with respect to the immune system, and this research does not seem to have been conducted, integratively, in clinical population. Thus, the present study was carried out to examine the effects of a mindfulness meditation program on immune parameters in a clinical sample. 16 patients with depression and anxiety symptoms participated in the study; these patients underwent a mindfulness meditation program for the period of eight weeks. For the quantification of immune parameters (leucocytes, immunoglobulins and complement), blood samples were taken before and at the end of the training program. T-test and Wilcoxon signed-rank test were performed as statistical analyses. After completing the mindfulness meditation program, patients displayed significantly lower levels of monocytes and IgM, and higher levels of C3 and C4, as compared with pre-training. Therefore, these results show that mindfulness meditation may exert a significant immunomodulatory action in anxious and depressed patients, which may hold clinical relevance. Future studies should confirm these findings, as well as fully assess their clinical implications. It is known that pro-inflammatory cytokine such as IL-1β plays an important role in behavioral and physiological alterations produced by exposure to immune stimulation or exposure to stressors. Similarities between the neurochemical, endocrine, and behavioral consequences of immune challenge and stressors have been described frequently but the impact of immune stimulation such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or stressors on central or peripheral IL-1β has not been systematically explored. To establish whether treatment of LPS or exposure to the foot shock stress (FS) leads to a changes in central or peripheral production of IL-1β and what types of cells express IL-1β in paraventricular nucleus (PVN) and hippocampus were investigated in rats. After treatment of LPS (100 ug/kg) or exposure to the FS (ten, 0.8-mA, foot shock for 5 sec each and 90 sec interval), fever were assessed and plasma, spleen, brains were collected to measure IL-1β levels and brains were perfused for immunohistochemical study. LPS produced widespread increase IL-1β in the brain, spleen and plasma, but FS produced significant increase in IL-1β only in the brain but not in spleen and plasma. In confocal immunofluorescence study, LPS and FS increased IL-1β immunoreactivities in the PVN and in the hippocampal CA1 and CA3 regions and the IL-1β immunoreactivities were colocalized with NeuN. Our results indicate that in brain both LPS and FS increase IL-1β but in periphery only LPS increases IL-1β and that IL-1β immunoreactivities on neuron may play an important role in the hypothalamus and the hippocampus regions. Heart rate variability (HRV) is largely regarded as a useful marker of cardiovascular functioning (Task Force, 1996) . Despite disparities in cardiovascular disease prevalence, especially hypertension, researchers have also suggested that African Americans (AA) actually display greater resting HRV compared to Whites (Li et al., 2009). One proposed explanation for the greater rates of hypertension in African Americans is a greater peripheral resistance in the systemic vasculature (Dorr et al., 2007) . In the present study, we sought to examine the relationships among HRV, and central (i.e. Cardiac Output|CO) and peripheral (i.e. Total Peripheral Resistance|TPR) hemodynamic measures. As part of a larger study, continuous measurements of HRV and hemodynamics were obtained for 34 AA participants (22 females, Mage=19.8, SD=2.7), during a five minute resting baseline period. Initial correlational analysis revealed a moderate association between resting HRV and resting CO(r=.29, p=.08). Analyses were then conducted separately for each gender. Interestingly, this association was stronger for AA females (r=.47, p=.02), but weaker and in the opposite direction for AA males (r=−.09, p=.79). Separate analyses also revealed a strong relationship between resting HRV and TPR in AA men (r=.60, p=.04), that was not observed for AA women (r=.13, p=.61). In follow-up regression analysis the effect for AA women was attenuated when BMI was added to the model; results for men were not diminished when controlling for age and BMI. These results suggest that important gender differences may modify the association between autonomic nervous system activity and hemodynamic parameters associated with cardiovascular disease. Sense of Coherence (SOC) scale measures the stress coping ability, viz comprehensibility, manageability, and meaningfulness. To investigate the relationships of SOC scores to perceived health status and job stress, self-administered questionnaires were distributed 1968 workers in some industries. Complete answers were recovered from 295 workers (14.9%, 192 males and 103 females) and used for the analysis(179 office clerks, 28 sales representatives, 21 technical engineers, and 67 others). Work stressors, psychological and somatic responses, social support, and job satisfaction were assessed by Brief Questionnaire for Job Stress (BQJS). Perceived health were evaluated by asking subjects to give 1-4 points to their own status (1 very healthy, 2 rather healthy, 3 not so healthy, 4 unhealthy). Ages were 49.3 years on average (SD11.4)for all respondents, and were 50.7 (SD 11.6) and 46.4(SD 10.7) for males and females, respectively. SOC scores were 56.8(SD6.1)on average, without significant differences between two genders (p>0.05). Multiple regression analysis indicated that, for both males and females, tension scores (BQJS) were inversely related to SOC scores, whereas were positively related to job load and stress by human relations assessed by BQJS (p<0.05); tension scores were also inversely related to supervisor's support and job satisfaction (BQJS). Similarly, in males, depression scores (BQJS) were related inversely to SOC, job satisfaction and supervisor's support, and positively to job load and stress by human relations (p<0.05). The similar relationships of depression scores to job load, supervisor's support and stress by human relations were observed in females (p<0.05). Perceived health was not significantly associated with SOC scores in the multiple regression analysis (p>0.05). It is thus suggested that SOC can reduce adverse responses to job stress(job load and stress by human relations). Objective: In recent years, salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) has been proposed as a reliable proxy for sympathetic activity. This study aimed at testing the association between sAA to a broad range of psychosocial factors, self rated health, cardiovascular risk factors and inflammatory markers in a normal population sample. Methods: 30 participants, all men between 50 and 54 years old, were randomly selected from a normal population based study. Saliva samples were collected at awakening, 30 minutes after awakening and just before going to bed. sAA was measured by a calorimetric method using Phadebas amylase test. Linear regression models were used to test associations between sAA levels and a broad spectrum of psychosocial factors (e.g. depressive symptamology, vital exhaustion, mastery and sense of coherence) self rated health and inflammatory markers (e.g. C-reactive protein). Adjustments were made for physical exercise, smoking, blood lipids and time point when sample was collected. Results: sAA levels at awakening were positively associated with depressive symptamology (p=0.046), vital exhaustion (p=0.025) and negatively associated with sense of coherence (p=0.034). It was further associated positively associated with levels of C-reactive protein (p=0.024) and negatively associated with self reported general health (p=0.010). Samples taken just before going to bed were showing similar results, whereas samples taken 30 minutes after awakening only showed a few significant associations. Conclusions: The associations found give further support for the use of salivary alpha amylase as a psychoneuroendocrinological biomarker. Assessment just after awakening or just before going to bed seems to be more reliable than samples 30 minutes after awakening. Background: Depression symptom severity contributes independently to risk for recurrent cardiac events, and inflammation has been suggested as a mechanism by which this risk is conferred. Evidence regarding the directionality of the depressioninflammation relationship is equivocal however, and indicative of possible complex and bidirectional associations. Methods: At the time of their index event (baseline), and then again 1-and 3months later, 163 post-Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) patients completed the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), a measure of depression symptom severity with cognitive and somatic components. C-Reactive Protein (CRP) level was also assessed at these visits, as were known correlates of depression and CRP (i.e., age, sex, body mass index, education, raceethnicity, mean arterial pressure [MAP], smoking status, history of rheumatic disease, and history of diabetes). Path analyses were conducted to evaluate the directionality of the depression-CRP relation and whether directionality varied by sex and/or specific symptom dimensions of depression. Results: Baseline total depression symptom severity predicted an increase in CRP from baseline to 1-month (β=0.23, p<0.001) controlling for all covariates, as did baseline cognitive-affective depression symptom severity (β=0.28, p=0.02). In contrast, baseline somaticvegetative depression symptom severity did not predict an increase in CRP (β=−0.01, p=0.92). CRP did not significantly predict 1-or 3-month change in total, cognitive-affective, or somatic-vegetative depression symptom severity. Results did not differ for men and women. Conclusion: Cognitive-affective and total depression symptom severity at the time of a cardiac event predicted 1-month increases in CRP for both men and women, but there was no evidence that earlier CRP predicts later depression symptoms. This study examined the impact of social network variables on diurnal rhythm of cortisol levels among a group of 84 older people (45 men) whose ages ranged from 59 yrs to 86 yrs (mean= 73.02 yrs). Eight saliva samples were collected from the participants for two days at specific times after waking: immediately, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, 3 hours, 6 hours, 9 hours, and 12 hours. Cortisol data of the two days were aggregated for analysis. The two components of diurnal rhythm, namely, awakening response and diurnal decline were examined separately. For the cortisol awakening response, two separate indices reflecting the mean level of secretion and the rise from immediately to 45 minutes post-awakening, AUCG and AUCI, were computed using the trapezoid formula. Similar procedure was applied to arrive at two indices of decline: AUCG-d and AUCI-d, from the peak level in the morning to that of 12 hours post-awakening. The relation of each of the two indices within each diurnal component to the availability, use and development of social network was examined in a multiple regression analysis while controlling for the effect of gender, age, socioeconomic status, waking time, humor, and self-esteem. Results indicated that higher scores in social network development were associated with a steeper rise in the morning (Beta=.32, t=2.24, p<.05) and a faster decline over the day (Beta=.34, t=2.38, p<.05). Participants having higher scores on this variable exhibited a stronger motivation to develop and extend their social relationships. Its effect on cortisol might stem from the positivity underlying the intention, which is consistent with what prior data suggest. None of the other variables included in the regression analysis had significant impact on cortisol levels. Findings of the present study suggest that the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis is the major pathway whereby positive psychosocial factors exert their health effects in the aging population.