The role of social support in coping wit stress Flashcards
what is social support
The degree of assistance and resources available from others (e.g. family, friends, work colleagues, therapists etc.) to help cope with stress
How might social support act as a buffer against stressors (the Buffering Hypothesis)?
The more social support individuals receives, the better able they are to cope with stressful situations, with the social support acting as a buffer against the stressors.
Individuals are less likely to feel isolated and depressed, and more likely to deal with their stress, if they receive social support.
social support
The amount and type of social support an individual receives depends on several factors, such as the social networks that a person has and their gender, with females generally having wider social support systems.
It also depends on cultural background, with certain cultures (e.g. collectivist) having extended family networks that can provide this support to a high degree.
Stroebe (2000) identified 5 types of social support (we will only be considering three of these).
what are they ?
esteem support
emotional support
Instrumental Support
esteem support
This occurs when the individual perceives that others value them and hold them in high regard.
This strengthens feelings of self-worth, which is particularly helpful in dealing with stressful situations, as it helps individuals feel competent enough and therefore more confident they can cope.
emotional support
This occurs when an individual perceives that others care for them, have sympathy for and an understanding of their situation and can be depended on to provide comfort.
For example, this might mean listening to a friend or giving them advice about managing their emotions
Instrumental Support
This occurs when others provide practical/tangible assistance.
This is a problem-solving kind of approach to coping with stress, where the focus is on doing something.
This can be indirect, for example helping out so that an individual has more time and energy to deal with the stressor.
It can also be direct, such as helping to deal with the stressor themselves (e.g. loaning money to help cope with financial stressors).
Research: Orth-Gomer et al. (1993) procedure
In a sample of 776 50-year-old healthy Swedish men born in 1933, the most common factors in those going on to develop CVDs was smoking and lack of social support.
Research: Orth-Gomer et al. (1993) what does it illustrate
This illustrates the importance of social support in counteracting the negative effects of stress.
Research: Orth-Gomer et al. (1993) findings
It was also found that only in men who lacked emotional support were the effects of stressful life events harmful, with such men 5x more likely to die than those receiving emotional support, highlighting the value of emotional support.
Different types of social support may be more helpful in different situations…..
For example, when stressed with work commitments, instrumental support in the form of help babysitting the children may be best.
However, when faced with the stress caused by the breakdown of a relationship, emotional support may be best.
Research suggests that there are differences between males and females in the extent to which they benefit from social support.
Lucknow et al. (1998) found that in 25 out of 26 studies, women were more likely to use social support than men.
However, these findings are dependent on the type of social support being investigated. For example….
Males are more likely to use instrumental social support (more problem-focused).
Females are more likely to use emotional support than men AND are more likely to use social support in general than men.
Research suggests that there are cultural variations in the types of social support that are used
Bailey and Dua (1999):
Compared Asian students (belonging to a collectivist culture) against Anglo-Australian (belonging to an individualist culture) students in their coping styles.
They found that the Asian students tended to employ collectivist coping strategies (this means that the support they received and sought out was more implicit- the structure of their society meant it was there anyway).
The Anglo-Australian students tended to use more individualistic coping styles- this tends to be more explicit e.g. instrumental
what is individualist support
Individualist support – This is when individuals provide individual practical support. Individualist support is more instrumental support.
what is collectivist support
Collectivist support – This is support based on the group. This is related to the types of cultures we would call collectivist, where group is important.
