Social Support Flashcards
What is stress caused by?
- enviornmental stimulus- the stressor
When are events deemed to be more stressful?
- negative or uncontrollable
- contribute to overload
- are ambiguous
What are the categories of stressor?
-acute time limited eg taking test
- stressor consequences eg losing job
- chronic intermittent eg meeting weekly deadlines
- chronic eg poor living conditions
- also can distinguish between physical threats and ego threats
What are behavioural impacts of stress?
- might also impact health-related behaviours eg diet, smoking, alcohol consumption, exercise
- stress might influence social interactions which could increase or reduce exposure to pathogens
What are the two scales for measuring stress?
-The percieved stress scale (PSS)- classic stress assesment instrument- 1983
-SSRS: Holme and Rahe 1967)- The social readjustment rating scalee
What is The percieved stress scale (PSS)- classic stress assessment instrument- 1983?
- remains popular choice for helping to understand situations affecting our feelings and percieved stress
What is SSRS: Holme and Rahe 1967)- The social readjustment rating scale, what was the background?
- researchers chose 43 potential life events
- asked 394 pps to rate them according to amount of social readjustment they required
- on the basis of these ratings they calculated a life change uni score for each other
What is SSRS: Holme and Rahe 1967)- The social readjustment rating scale, what was the use of the scale?
-total value for stressful life events can be worked out by adding up the scores for each event experienced over 12 months
- less than 150 life change units = 30% chance of suffering from stress
- 150-299 life change units= 50% chance of suffering from stress
- over 300 life units = 80% chance of developing a stress-related ilness
What are some weaknesses of the SSRS(Holmes and Rahe 1967)?
- ignores recurrent events
- different life events may have different significance to different people eg bereavement
- some events could be symptoms of being ill rather than causes
What can positive social support of high quality do?
- enhance resilience to stress
- help protect against developing trauma-related psychopathology
- reduce medical morbidity and mortality
What are the different ways social support and health can be conceptualised?
- social integration eg no of people avaliable
- relationship quality eg nature of marital relationship
- percieved social support eg how satisfied individuals are with the support avaliable
What has good quality social support been linked with?
- reduced mortality: cardiovascular disease, cancer etc
- reduced blood pressure
- better sleep
- better adjustment to and/ or improved recovery from heart surgery, kidney disease and stroke
What is the direct effects hypothesis?
- social interactions provide positive experiences and facilitare meaningful roles positive affect and self esteem—– influences:
- physiological systems eg immune system
- psychological processes eg percieved control
- health related behaviours eg exercise
-social support is of benefit regardless of whether people are stressed - absence of social support is stressful
What is the buffering hypothesis?
- opposite to direct hypothesis
- social support is only related to well being for those who are under stress
- existence of others facilitates effectring coping
What is the research study in buffering hypothesis?
McGarth, S.K., & Kennel, J.H. (2008) randomised controlled trial of continous labor support for middle class couples effect on cesarean delivery rates
What were the findings of McGarth, S.K., & Kennel, J.H. (2008) randomised controlled trial of continous labor support for middle class couples effect on cesarean delivery rates?
-sig fewer women in doula group had caesarean sections (13.4% vs 25%)
- sig fewer women in the doula group had epidurals (64.7% vs 76%)
- the overwhelming majority of women and their partners in the doula group rated their experience with the doula positively
What did Kroenke et al 2006 say in social support and breast cancer?
found women who were socially isolated before breast cancer diagnosis were 2x more likely to die from breast cancer
What are some positive negative influences in social support and health?
-poor realtionship quality eg marriage
- negative interactions with others eg arguments
- poorly matched support eg you want someone to listen and they start problem solving
- over involved others
- behavioural influence
What is the social cure?
-group memberships may also have implications for health outcomes and wellbeing
- group membership and identification may exert its effects via self esteem, social support and percived control (Greenaway et al 2015)
What is the social cure contingent upon?
- identification with the group and
- state and circumstances of the group eg if a group with which one identifies strongly is stigmatised then this will adversly impact health outcomes ( Jetten et al 2017)
What is social prescribing?
- aims to enhance social connections and health and well being of those chronic conditions made worse through loneliness
- research has consisitently found links between social prescription, health and well being and social cure mechanisms
