role of social support in coping with stress

Question 1

explain the types of social support: Mark Schaefer

Answer 1

• instrumental support: physically do something to help
• emotional support: try to lift the mood of the person who is stressed eg.. ‘i feel for you’
• esteem support: reinforce someones faith in themselves and reduce feelings of stress
• can all be provided without physical presence

Question 2

evaluate negative effects?

Answer 2

• WEAKNESS
• not universally beneficial
• instrumental support may be more valued from a medical professional who cab deal with problem rather than a friend
• support may be more beneficial when sought out not when imposed

Question 3

evaluate gender differences?

Answer 3

• WEAKNESS
• men appear to have larger social networks, however women are more likely to seek and provide social support
• Luckow=meta analysis 26 studies on how women cope with stress and found 25/26 used social support to cope

Question 4

evaluate Cohen et al research

Answer 4

• STRENGTH
• studied 404 healthy adult pp’s every evening for 14 days to measure the amount of hugs they received
• they quarantined and then exposed them to a common cold virus, monitoring the illness
• found, pp’s that those who had reported having the most hugs were less likely to be ill
• shows social support to be a buffer against stress.