The Genomic and Well-Being Impacts of an Extraverted Behavior Intervention

NCT07690605 | Completed

• 2 other identifiers: 15154U24AG072699
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 119
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

8-week randomized intervention (with 3-month follow-up) that examines the impact of increased sociable behavior on emotional well-being and immune health profile

Conditions

Psychological Well-being and Immune Health Profile

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (3)

• Self-reported loneliness (survey)

  Responses to loneliness sub-scale of Comprehensive Inventory of Thriving

  From enrollment to end of study period at 8 weeks

• Self-reported positive and negative affect (survey)

  Responses to 12-item survey, Affect-Adjective Scale

  From enrollment to end of study period at 8 weeks

• Immune gene profile

  Changes to immune gene profile assayed in dried blood spots

  From enrollment to end of study period at 8 weeks

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Self-reported psychological well-being (survey)

  From enrollment to end of study period at 8 weeks

Study Arms (2)

Sociable (extraverted) behavior

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants asked to act more outgoing and talkative

Behavioral: Sociable (extraverted) behavior

Daily routine list

SHAM COMPARATOR

Participants asked to list their daily routines without changing behavior

Behavioral: Sociable (extraverted) behavior

Interventions

Sociable (extraverted) behavior BEHAVIORAL

Participants asked to act more sociable (extraverted) 3 days a week for 6 weeks on days of their choosing with the goal of promoting social connection. 8-week study includes week 0 pre-test measures and week 1 baseline of sociable behavior "as usual."

Daily routine list; Sociable (extraverted) behavior

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Age 18 or older

You may not qualify if:

• Younger than 18 years of age

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of California, Riverside: lead
• National Institute on Aging (NIA): collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Department of Psychology

Riverside, California, 92521, United States

Location

Related Publications (4)

• Yang YS, Wynn JK, Cole S, Green MF. Stress-related gene regulation: Do isolated and connected individuals differ? Brain Behav Immun. 2024 Aug;120:372-378. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2024.06.013. Epub 2024 Jun 17.

  PMID: 38897331 BACKGROUND

• Cole SW. Social regulation of human gene expression. Curr Dir Psychol Sci. 2009 Jun 1;18(3):132-137. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8721.2009.01623.x.

  PMID: 21243077 BACKGROUND

• Ricon-Becker I, West TN, Fredrickson BL, Kaplan DM, Mehl MR, Raison CL, Cole SW. Predicting psychosocial intervention response from baseline gene expression. Brain Behav Immun. 2024 Oct;121:331-339. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2024.08.004. Epub 2024 Aug 2.

  PMID: 39098435 BACKGROUND

• Cole SW. Elevating the perspective on human stress genomics. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2010 Aug;35(7):955-62. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2010.06.008. Epub 2010 Jul 13.

  PMID: 20630660 BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Psychological Well-Being

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Personal Satisfaction; Behavior

Study Officials

• Elissa Eppel, PhD

  UC San Francisco

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Graduate Student Alum | Assistant Professor (current)

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: July 1, 2026
• First Posted: July 8, 2026
• Study Start: March 8, 2024
• Primary Completion: December 5, 2024
• Study Completion: December 22, 2024
• Last Updated: July 8, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-07

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)