Social conflict, social support, and psychological distress: Evidence of cross-domain buffering effects.

A longitudinal study examined the relative and joint effects of perceived social support and social conflict on psychological distress in 228 college students. Women had higher perceived social support from roommates and friends and less conflict with roommates than did men; there were no gender differences in level of conflict with friends or psychological distress. Roommate conflict predicted increases in psychological distress over time; this effect was attenuated by high levels of perceived social support from friends. Friend conflict also predicted increases in psychological distress over time; this effect was attenuated by high levels of perceived social support from roommates. These results show the importance of negative and positive aspects of social experiences to emotional functioning and the importance of compensatory social support for individuals facing social conflicts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Victimization, social support, and psychosocial functioning among children of same-sex and opposite-sex couples in the United Kingdom.

To further develop an understanding of psychological and social functioning of children raised by lesbian couples, the authors compared 18 students ages 12-16 raised in families led by female same-sex couples, who were identified from a large school-based survey, with 18 matched students raised by opposite-sex couples and the general student sample. Comparisons were made on factors including victimization, social support, and psychological functioning. Results indicate that those students raised by female same-sex couples did not differ significantly from those raised by opposite-sex couples or the general student sample in terms of reports of victimization, psychological functioning, experience of common adolescent concerns, or prospective use of support outlets provided by family and peers. However, children of same-sex couples reported significantly less likelihood of using school-based support than did children of opposite-sex couples or the general student sample. Findings indicate the need for school administrators, teachers, and psychologists to be knowledgeable of and provide appropriate support and resources for these children. Additional implications for research and application are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived social support, psychological adjustment, and functional ability in youths with physical disabilities.

Objective: To examine the relationship between perceived social support and psychological adjustment and functional ability in youths with physical disabilities. Participants: Thirty-seven youths with neuromuscular disease and 33 with spina bifida. Measures: Demographic and disability-related questions, Child Health Questionnaire, Functional Disability Inventory, and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. Results: Social support from family, but not from friends, was significantly associated with better psychological adjustment. Significant interactions emerged between family support and age, as well as between friend support and gross motor functioning, in the prediction of functional ability. Conclusions: Social support appears to play an important role in psychological adjustment and functional ability in this population, and the nature of this role may be moderated, to some extent, by age and gross motor functioning. Future research and clinical implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Linking occupational conditions to physical health through marital, social, and intrapersonal processes

In the present longitudinal study of 330 married men and 300 married women, we use a comprehensive structural equation model to investigate how occupation is linked to physical health. Results show that occupational quality influences health-risk behavior (measured by composite indices) for both men and women through a series of mediating variables: social integration, marital integration, and psychological control. Health-risk behavior is related to adverse change in physical health status over a two-year period. Occupational quality influences social and marital integration and psychological control for both husbands and wives. Social integration and marital integration also enhance husbands' psychological control, but marital integration is the only factor contributing to wives' psychological control. In turn, psychological control is associated with health-risk behaviors for both husbands and wives. In addition, both social and marital integration directly deter husbands' health-risk behaviors, while social integration is the only variable to directly influence wives' health-risk behaviors.     

Family functioning and social support in the adaptation of caregivers of children with sickle cell syndromes

OBJECTIVE: To examine moderating effects of family functioning and social support on the relationship of child-related stressors to caregivers' psychological adaptation in a sample of caregivers of children with a chronic illness. METHOD: Participants were 67 caregivers of children and adolescents with sickle cell syndromes. We conducted MANOVAs and subsequent effect size calculations to determine if family functioning would buffer the effects of caring for difficult-to-manage children with this illness. RESULTS: Findings supported a moderator effect of family functioning on the association of children's externalizing behavioral problems to caregivers' symptoms of hostility. Greater levels of cohesive and adaptive family functioning buffered the potential detrimental effects of caring for children perceived as hard to manage. No significant associations were obtained between measures of caregivers' psychological adaptation and the severity of their children's disease. CONCLUSIONS: We make recommendations for family systems interventions, particularly for caregivers of children with behavior problems.     

The social environment and health in rheumatoid arthritis: marital quality predicts individual variability in pain severity

OBJECTIVE: To examine prospective relations between a wide array of measures of social functioning and pain, while controlling for disease duration and activity and functional grade. METHODS: As part of a larger study on health care utilization, longitudinal data were collected from 136 Dutch and 98 German outpatients on clinical status and pain. Social data included information on sexual handicap, spouse behavior, loneliness, daily emotional support, and the maintenance of pleasurable life domains. Pain severity was assessed at baseline and 12 months later with standard measures of pain and analyzed with hierarchical regressions. RESULTS: Social measures obtained at baseline were consistently associated with pain at followup. Depression was a moderate correlate of pain in the Dutch and German samples. The regressions revealed that patient reports of negative spouse behavior (such as avoidance and critical remarks) and baseline depression predicted worse pain outcome, and this association remained significant in analyses controlling for baseline pain. The level of formal education was a weak correlate of disability, emotional support, and pain. Daily emotional support and social life domains associated with positive affect had an indirect influence on outcome. The absence of strong rather than weak social ties was the component of the loneliness construct linked to pain. These associations between social prognostic factors and pain severity, however, were mediated by psychological functioning at baseline. CONCLUSION: The social environment was found to operate on the core health outcome, pain severity, via several pathways. Social functioning may be affected by rheumatoid arthritis (RA) progression, but it also appears to form a determinant of future health outcome. Not only the status of being married but also the quality of the relationship in terms of long-term stress and emotional support may be useful prognostic factors in RA.     

Measuring general social support in alcoholic patients: Short forms for perceived social support.

Previous studies identify a positive association between social support and favorable posttreatment functioning. The next step for this line of inquiry is to identify the mechanisms through which social relationships affect alcohol treatment outcome by discrimination of the types and sources of social support. This article presents versions of the Perceived Social Support instrument (M. Procidano & K. Heller, 1983), which measures support from both family and friends. The item sets are reduced from 20 to 7 and ask identical questions from these two support sources. The internal consistency for the Family scale (α?=?.84) and for the Friends scale (α?=?.81) is acceptable. Test-retest reliability is also good for both the Family (r?=?.94) and the Friends (r?=?.88) scales. Correlations with social functioning and alcohol involvement are similar between the short scales and the original 20 items. Normative levels of family and friends support by gender are presented. These scales expand the ability to include a multifaceted social support construct in comprehensive assessments of alcohol treatment populations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Don't hide your happiness! Positive emotion dissociation, social connectedness, and psychological functioning.

It is now clear that positive emotion leads to enhanced psychological functioning. What is less clear, however, is just why this is so. Drawing on a social-functional perspective, we argue that positive emotional behavior that accurately signals to others the individual's internal state will enhance social connectedness. Positive emotional behavior that does not accurately signal a person's experience—such as a smile that is not felt—may impede social connectedness and, in turn, psychological functioning. This perspective suggests that (a) the degree to which experience and behavior are dissociated during positive emotional episodes, over and above level of positive behavior, should predict worse psychological functioning and (b) the effect of dissociation should be mediated by social connectedness. To test these hypotheses, we conducted a short-term prospective longitudinal study, with a baseline assessment of depressive symptoms and well-being at Time 1. Six months later, at Time 2, we used a novel within-individual laboratory paradigm to measure the degree to which positive emotional behavior was dissociated from (vs. coherent with) a participant's positive emotional experience. We also assessed level of positive behavior and experience. Then, another 6 months later, we assessed social connectedness as a mediator and depressive symptoms and well-being as outcomes at Time 3. Even when controlling for baseline functioning and for level of positive emotion behavior and experience, we found that greater positive experience–behavior dissociation at Time 2 predicted higher levels of depressive symptoms and lower levels of well-being at Time 3. As predicted, these associations were mediated by social connectedness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impact of social support, social cognitive variables, and perceived threat on depression among adults with diabetes.

Tested a model of social support and cognitive appraisal of self-efficacy, outcome expectancies, and illness threat on depression. Study participants were community-dwelling adults with diabetes who completed a mailed questionnaire (N?=?362). Results of structural equation modeling indicated that 52% of the variance in depression was explained by the model—largely by the direct effects of physical functioning, the perceived availability of social support, and the perceived threat of diabetes as well as the indirect paths from perceived support to perceived threat and from physical functioning to perceived support and perceived threat of diabetes. Diabetes-specific social support, self-efficacy, and outcome expectancies were not significant predictors of depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of social support and conflict on adolescent children of alcoholic and nonalcoholic fathers.

Studies of positive and negative social ties usually are done in isolation of each other, precluding an understanding of their relative contributions to psychological functioning. This research evaluated the effects of adolescents' conflict with and social support from key relationships (parents, siblings, and best friends) on adolescents' self-esteem, substance use, and externalizing symptoms. Ss were 296 adolescents and their parents; 145 families had alcoholic fathers, and 151 had nonalcoholic parents. Support and conflict provided by each network member showed only a mild negative correlation. Support from parents, but not siblings or best friends, was related to adolescents' reports of substance use and externalizing. Conflict with parents was consistently related to externalizing behaviors. There was no evidence that conflict within a relationship neutralizes the effectiveness of the support it provides. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Successful Aging and social relations: selection and compensation in social contact behavior

The model of selective optimization with compensation (Baltes & Baltes 1989; 1990) offers a theoretical concept of successful aging, that aims at the adaptivity of older persons in the aging process. The present study proposes an empirical operationalization of the model within the domain of social contact behavior, and relates this to self-referent knowledge on daily activities. Older persons with multiple chronic diseases and those in generally good health are compared according to their self-referent knowledge on daily activities and social contact behavior. All participants in the study were socially integrated and well functioning. A total of 35 subjects (mean age = 74.4 years) kept a prestructured dairy about their social contacts for a period of six days. Knowledge on daily activities was assessed in a semi-structured interview. The interviews and diaries were content analyzed (inter-rater reliability estimated via Cohen's Kappa for the interview: M = 0.84; for the diaries: M = 0.93). Results show that the highly social integrated subjects with multiple chronic disease performed significantly better in selective and compensatory strategies than the subjects in good health. Selection was indicated by (a) less family contact and a smaller number of group encounters, (b) more emotional support exchange, and (c) more knowledge on maintenance of daily activities. Compensation was indicated by (d) more frequent use of the telephone and (e) greater knowledge of prosthetic resources. It is concluded that social integration and participation can be optimized through selective and compensatory strategies in the face of chronic diseases in old age.     

Age-related changes in cardiovascular response as a function of a chronic stressor and social support.

The effects of aging, chronic stress, and social support on cardiovascular functioning were examined using a cross-sectional design. 36 family caregivers of Alzheimer's disease victims and 34 control Ss performed 2 active coping tasks while continuous noninvasive measures of cardiovascular activity were monitored. Results revealed that caregivers high in social support displayed typical age-related decreases in heart-rate reactivity, whereas caregivers low in social support displayed age-related increases in heart-rate reactivity. Analyses further indicated that only Ss with low social support were characterized by age-related increases in systolic blood pressure. These results suggest that social support can moderate age-related changes in cardiovascular functioning, particularly in Ss exposed to a chronic stressor. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship of subjective and objective social status with psychological and physiological functioning: Preliminary data in healthy, White women.

This preliminary study compared the associations between objective and subjective socioeconomic status (SES) with psychological and physical variables among 157 healthy White women, 59 of whom subsequently participated in a laboratory stress study. Compared with objective indicators, subjective social status was more consistently and strongly related to psychological functioning and health-related factors (self-rated health, heart rate, sleep latency, body fat distribution, and cortisol habituation to repeated stress). Most associations remained significant even after controlling for objective social status and negative affectivity. Results suggest that, in this sample with a moderately restricted range on SES and health, psychological perceptions of social status may be contributing to the SES-health gradient. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive adaptation to the experience of social and cultural diversity.

Diversity is a defining characteristic of modern society, yet there remains considerable debate over the benefits that it brings. The authors argue that positive psychological and behavioral outcomes will be observed only when social and cultural diversity is experienced in a way that challenges stereotypical expectations and that when this precondition is met, the experience has cognitive consequences that resonate across multiple domains. A model, rooted in social categorization theory and research, outlines the preconditions and processes through which people cognitively adapt to the experience of social and cultural diversity and the resulting cross-domain benefits that this brings. Evidence is drawn from a range of literatures to support this model, including work on biculturalism, minority influence, cognitive development, stereotype threat, work group productivity, creativity, and political ideology. The authors bring together a range of differing diversity experiences and explicitly draw parallels between programs of research that have focused on both perceiving others who are multicultural and being multicultural oneself. The findings from this integrative review suggest that experiencing diversity that challenges expectations may not only encourage greater tolerance but also have benefits beyond intergroup relations to varied aspects of psychological functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of symptoms, lung function, mood, and social support on level of functioning of patients with COPD

To explain how symptoms, lung function, mood, and social support affect level of functioning, patients (N = 143) with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) completed measures assessing their symptoms (Bronchitis-Emphysema Symptom Checklist), mood (Profile of Mood States), social support (Personal Resource Questionnaire), and functioning (Sickness Impact Profile). Those who were receiving oxygen therapy (n = 52) had significantly lower FEV1 scores and experienced significantly poorer functioning than those who were not receiving oxygen therapy (n = 91). Results of path analyses indicated that symptoms and mood directly, and social support indirectly, influenced the functioning of those who were not receiving oxygen. For those who were receiving oxygen, only symptoms directly, and FEV1 indirectly, influenced their functioning. These models need to be confirmed using other samples of patients with COPD.     

Pre-hurricane perceived social support protects against psychological distress: A longitudinal analysis of low-income mothers.

Objective: In this study, we examined the influence of pre-disaster perceived social support on post-disaster psychological distress among survivors of Hurricane Katrina. Method: Participants (N = 386) were low-income mothers between 18 and 34 years of age at baseline (M = 26.4, SD = 4.43). The majority (84.8%) was African American; 10.4% identified as Caucasian, 3.2% identified as Hispanic, and 1.8% identified as other. Participants were enrolled in an educational intervention study in 2004 and 2005. Those who had completed a 1-year follow-up assessment prior to Hurricane Katrina were reassessed approximately 1 year after the hurricane. Measures of perceived social support and psychological distress were included in pre- and post-disaster assessments. Using structural equation modeling and multiple mediator analysis, we tested a model wherein pre-disaster perceived social support predicted post-disaster psychological distress both directly and indirectly through its effects on pre-disaster psychological distress, exposure to hurricane-related stressors, and post-disaster perceived social support. We predicted that higher pre-disaster perceived social support would be predictive of lower pre-disaster psychological distress, lower hurricane-related stressors, and higher post-disaster perceived social support, and that these variables would, in turn, predict lower post-disaster psychologically distress. Results: Our analyses provide partial support for the hypothesized model. Although pre-disaster perceived social support did not exert a direct effect on post-disaster psychological distress, the indirect effects of all 3 proposed mediators were significant. Conclusions: Pre-disaster social support can decrease both exposure to natural disasters and the negative psychological effects of natural disaster exposure. These findings underscore the importance of bolstering the post-disaster social support networks of low-income mothers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anhedonia, positive and negative affect, and social functioning in schizophrenia

This study examines the relationship between anhedonia and the trait dimensions of positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) in schizophrenia. The relationship between poor social functioning in schizophrenia and these individual differences in affectivity is also examined. Schizophrenia outpatients (n = 37) and normal controls (n = 15) were assessed at a baseline evaluation and again approximately 90 days later. Consistent with the hypothesized decrease in hedonic capacity in schizophrenia, patients reported significantly greater physical and social anhedonia and less PA than controls. However, the schizophrenia group also reported significantly greater NA and social anxiety than did controls. In support of the dispositional view of these individual differences in affectivity, trait measures demonstrated test-retest reliability, and group differences between the schizophrenia group and controls were stable over the 90-day followup period. Within the schizophrenia group, physical and social anhedonia were comparably negatively correlated with trait PA; however, social but not physical anhedonia was significantly positively correlated with NA and social anxiety. Poor social functioning in the schizophrenia group was associated with greater physical and social anhedonia and greater NA and social anxiety. Alternatively, greater trait PA was related to better social functioning. These findings indicate that schizophrenia is characterized by both low PA and elevated NA and that these affective characteristics are a stable feature of the illness. The results also suggest important links between affect and social functioning in schizophrenia.     

Family treatment and medication dosage reduction in schizophrenia: Effects on patient social functioning, family attitudes, and burden.

The effects of 2 family intervention programs (supportive family management [SFM], including monthly support groups for 2 years; or applied family management [AFM], including 1 year of behavioral family therapy plus support groups for 2 years), and 3 different neuroleptic dosage strategies (standard, low, targeted) on social functioning of patients with schizophrenia, their relatives' attitudes, and family burden were examined. AFM was associated with lower rejecting attitudes by relatives toward patients and less friction in the family perceived by patients. Patients in both AFM and SFM improved in social functioning but did not differ, whereas family burden was unchanged. Medication strategy had few effects, nor did it interact with family intervention. The addition of time-limited behavioral family therapy to monthly support groups improved family atmosphere, but did not influence patient social functioning or family burden. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personal assertiveness and the effects of social support among college students.

Although research has established that socially supportive relationships are important factors in psychological adjustment under stress, social support research has not examined the interaction between interpersonal variables and social support. Personal assertiveness in particular is one interpersonal variable that theoretically could enhance the beneficial aspects of social support. Data collected from two independent samples of college students in an urban setting provide evidence that personal assertiveness significantly augments specific types of social relationships to predict psychological symptoms under stressful conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)