Social ties: Subgroup differences in costs and benefits.

Studied social support in response to stressful life events (i.e., whether social ties are stressful as well as supportive and whether there are subgroup differences in the efficacy of social support) among 314 women (mean age 34.7 yrs) with a mean educational level of 10.7 yrs and a mean family income of $7,500–20,000/yr. Ss completed measures of negative affect, perceived stressfulness of life events of significant others, and social support. Selected findings show that (1) the mobilization of social support was associated with better psychological well-being for Ss with greater personal resources; (2) Ss with lower levels of personal resources were more distressed by life events in the lives of their significant others, especially as the number of these events increased; and (3) subgroup effects of interpersonal support and stress on psychological well-being were independent and separate. It is concluded that Ss with greater material and psychological resources derived more beneficial support and suffered less stress from their social ties. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of life and job stress on information search behaviors of organizational members.

Examined the relationship of stressful life events in and out of work to role-relevant information search. It was suggested that stressful life events lead a person to question the appropriateness of typical modes of role enactment resulting in increased role-relevant information search. 44 adults (mean age 37.7 yrs) employed in a wide variety of organizations completed the Social Readjustment Rating Scale and the Organizational Readjustment Rating Scale that measure 2 types of stressful events (life and work), and role-related information search was assessed in 2 settings (on and off the job). Results show that stressful events significantly predicted information search activities. However, work-related stressful events predicted information search conducted on the job, whereas life stress predicted off-the-job search. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Contrast-enhanced MR angiography

These studies investigated appraisal and coping strategies of tension-type headache sufferers and headache-free controls. In study 1, 60 women engaged in an interpersonal stressor. They completed measures that assessed subjective stress and coping strategies. Headache sufferers reported greater levels of stress at baseline than did controls but were not more reactive to a stressful interpersonal situation. All participants reported greater use of disengagement coping during the interpersonal interaction, while the amount of engagement coping strategies did not differ. Participants (30 women) in Study 2 engaged in progressive muscle relaxation. Headache participants again reported higher levels of subjective stress at baseline, this difference was nearly gone following relaxation. Together, the results suggest that individuals with tension-type headache report higher levels of subjective stress than headache-free controls when they make baseline ratings of stress and that this elevation cannot be attributed to the anticipation of a future stressful event.     

Examining coping methods with stressful interpersonal events experienced by Muslims living in the United States following the 9/11 attacks.

Pargament's (1997) religious coping theory was used to examine the methods of coping with stressful interpersonal events experienced by 138 Muslims living in the United States following the 9/11 attacks. The large majority of participants reported experiencing at least one stressful interpersonal event after the 9/11 attacks related to being Muslim; the most common incidents were hearing anti-Muslim comments, undergoing special security checks in airports, facing discriminatory acts, and being verbally harassed. Participants used both religious (i.e., positive religious coping, negative religious coping) and nonreligious (i.e., reaching out, isolation) methods to deal with these stressful interpersonal events. Positive religious coping and reaching out were related to posttraumatic growth; negative religious coping was associated with depression; and isolation was tied to both depression and angry feelings. The large majority of participants did not view the negative interpersonal events they experienced after the 9/11 attacks as a sacred loss, but a significant percentage did consider these events as a desecration. Further, viewing these incidents as a desecration was tied to posttraumatic growth, but this link was partially mediated by positive coping methods. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal helping behavior of industrial foremen.

97 25–45 yr old foremen from 7 companies completed a 20-item (many with subparts) questionnaire that inquired about the nature and frequency of their helping contacts with supervisees experiencing personal problems. Ss spent an average of 2.5 hrs/wk discussing moderate-to-serious personal problems raised by their supervisees. Although work-related problems (e.g., job dissatisfactions, difficulties with fellow employees, and concerns about advancement opportunities) came up most often, supervisees also raised more personal concerns (e.g., marital problems, problems with children, and depression). Ss used various handling strategies to engage such problems including offering support and sympathy, asking questions, and trying to get them to consider alternatives. Most Ss felt positively about being cast in the interpersonal helper role and considered that to be an important part of their job. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stress exposure and stress generation in children of depressed mothers.

Two hypotheses were tested: (1) One mechanism contributing to the high rate of disorder in children of women with affective disorders is elevated exposure to stressful events and conditions, and (2) the children of depressed women, particularly women with unipolar depression, contribute to event occurrence because of increased interpersonal conflict. Life stress interview assessments were made at 6-mo intervals for 3 yrs on 53 children of unipolar, bipolar, medically ill, and normal women. Both hypotheses were confirmed. Transactional models of risk and further studies of the interpersonal functioning of children at risk for depression are needed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Les déterminants individuels, interpersonnels et organisationnels de la détresse psychologique en milieu de travail.

Studied determinants of psychological stress in the workplace to test a 2-step model involving 3 organizational stressors (i.e., quantitative work overload, role conflict, and role ambiguity) and 3 types of resources (i.e., individual, interpersonal, and organizational). 636 full-time employees (mean age 37.5 yrs) of 4 organizations completed questionnaires assessing sociodemographic factors, organizational stressors, resources (i.e., locus of control, Type A (coronary prone) behavior, social support from supervisors and colleagues, and decisional latitude), and psychological stress. Interactions among these factors were determined via multiple regression analyses. Several French-language instruments were used, including the Questionnaire on Internal–External Locus of Control in the Workplace (N. Pettersen, 1984) and the Psychiatric Symptom Index (F. W. Ilfeld, 1976). (English abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interactions between job stressors and social support: Some counterintuitive results.

Job stressors (underutilization of skills, quantitative workload, and job future ambiguity) and social support (tangible and emotional support from supervisor, coworkers, and nonjob sources) were used to predict psychological and physiological strains (job dissatisfaction, boredom, workload dissatisfaction, depression, heart rate, and blood pressure) and organizational consequences (absenteeism and job performance) among 102 hospital nurses (mean age 37.4 yrs). Based on previous theory and research, social support was expected to moderate the relationship between stressors and strains so that stressors would be less strongly related to strains in the presence of strong social support than under conditions of less social support. Several interactions were found, but all were in the direction opposite from predictions (i.e., social support strengthened the positive relationship between stressors and strains). This result contradicts most theories and models of job stress and social support. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Work stressors and wife abuse.

To assess whether work experiences and stressors are associated with wife abuse (WA), 18 maritally satisfied, 12 dissatisfied/nonabusive, and 18 dissatisfied/abusive husbands (mean age 35.3 yrs) completed work involvement, organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and work stress questionnaires (yielding occurrence, positive, and negative impact indices). Multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA) revealed that overall work experiences were significantly associated with WA. Univariate analyses of variance (ANOVAs) showed that only the occurrence of stressful work events and their negative impact were significantly associated with WA. Conceptual and methodological implications concerning the association between work stress and WA are suggested, and the needs for a true causal analyses on the effects of work stressors on WA and for a focus on personality and situational variables enhancing or reducing the likelihood of spouse abuse are emphasized. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stress resilience in early marriage: Can practice make perfect?

As all couples experience stressful life events, addressing how couples adapt to stress is imperative for understanding marital development. Drawing from theories of stress inoculation, which suggest that the successful adaptation to moderately stressful events may help individuals develop a resilience to future stress, the current studies examined whether experiences with manageable stressors early in the marriage may serve to make the relationship more resilient to future stress. In Study 1, 61 newlywed couples provided data regarding their stressful life events, relationship resources (i.e., observed problem-solving behaviors), and marital satisfaction at multiple points over 2? years. Results revealed that among spouses displaying more effective problem-solving behaviors, those who experienced moderate stress during the early months of marriage exhibited fewer future stress spillover effects and reported greater increases in felt efficacy than did spouses who had less experience with early stress. Study 2 examined stress resilience following the transition to parenthood in a new sample of 50 newlywed couples. Again, spouses who experienced moderate stress during the early months of marriage and had good initial relationship resources (i.e., observed support behaviors) reported greater marital adjustment following the transition to parenthood than did spouses who had good initial resources but less prior experience coping with stress. Together, results indicate that entering marriage with better relationship resources may not be sufficient to shield marital satisfaction from the detrimental effects of stress; rather, couples may also need practice in using those resources to navigate manageable stressful events. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fluid cognitive ability is associated with greater exposure and smaller reactions to daily stressors.

The authors of this study investigated whether fluid cognitive ability predicts exposure and emotional reactivity to daily stressors. A national sample of adults from the Midlife in the United States study and the National Study of Daily Experiences (N = 1,202) who had a mean age of 57 years (SD = 12; 56% women, 44% men) completed positive and negative mood reports as well as a stressor diary on 8 consecutive evenings via telephone. Participants also completed a telephone-based battery of tests measuring fluid cognitive ability. Higher levels of fluid cognitive ability were associated with greater exposure to work- and home-related overload stressors. Possessing higher levels of fluid cognitive ability was associated with smaller stressor-related increases in negative mood, primarily for interpersonal tensions and network stressors, and smaller stressor-related decreases in positive mood for interpersonal tensions. Furthermore, fluid cognitive ability was unrelated to subjective severity ratings of the stressors reported. Discussion focuses on the role of fluid cognitive ability in daily stress processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Striving for Unwanted Goals: Stress-Dependent Discrepancies Between Explicit and Implicit Achievement Motives Reduce Subjective Well-Being and Increase Psychosomatic Symptoms.

Three studies investigated the relevance of affect regulation, stressful life events, and congruence between explicit achievement orientation and implicit achievement motive for subjective well-being and symptom formation. According to personality systems interactions (PSI) theory, stressful life events were expected to reduce motive congruence when the ability to self-regulate affect was impaired (i.e., state orientation). Consistent with expectations, the State Orientation × Stress interaction predicted incongruence in healthy participants (Studies 1 and 3) and in patients (Study 2). Furthermore, incongruence partially mediated the direct State Orientation × Stress effect on subjective well-being (Studies 1 and 3) and the course of psychosomatic complaints over 3 months (Study 2). In Study 3, the experimental induction of threat reduced motive congruence in state-oriented participants compared with an acceptance condition. Findings underscore the importance of assessing motive congruence as a "hidden stressor" and validate a new operant multimotive test. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting depressive symptomatology: Cognitive-behavioral models and postpartum depression.

170 women (mean age 26.6 yrs), seen in their 2nd trimester of pregnancy, were followed-up about 3 mo postpartum. Level of depression (Beck Depression Inventory) was just as high during pregnancy as during the postpartum period. Several variables assessed during pregnancy and during the postpartum period were significant predictors of postpartum depression level, including measures of prepartum depression, attributional style, delivery stress, and stressful life events. The predictor variables accounted for about 40% of the variance in level of postpartum depression. Predictor variables from earlier research such as history of menstrual problems, parity, education, and income did not account for significant variance in postpartum depression level. These findings provide some evidence for the role of cognitive-behavioral factors and stressful life events in depression. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavioral manifestations of social support: A microanalytic investigation.

Examined the specific interpersonal behaviors that convey support from one person to another, the types of interpersonal experiences that characterize individuals who report high vs low levels of social support, and the effectiveness of a range of helping behaviors in preventing depressive reactions to stressful events. 41 undergraduates completed a general measure of perceived social support and kept daily records of their social interactions and stressful experiences for 14 days. They also completed the Depression Adjective Check Lists each day. Results show that behaviors reflecting emotional support and informational support occurred as a specific response to stressful life events. Although esteem support was expressed with equal frequency in the presence and absence of stress, it was especially effective in preventing depressive reactions to stressful events. Ss who perceived themselves as having high levels of social support were more frequently the recipients of helping behaviors following stressful events than those low in perceived support. Perceived social support was only predictive of helping behaviors on days on which at least 1 stressful event occurred. The total number of helping behaviors received following stressful events was a significant negative predictor of level of depressive mood, although 1 helping behavior (frequency of confiding) was associated with higher levels of depression. Results are interpreted in terms of the buffering model of social support. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Screening for depression among women attending their family physicians.

In Study 1, 437 women (aged 18–65 yrs) who completed the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES–D) while visiting their family doctors and received a score of 10 or higher were interviewed. A cut-off score of 13 on the CES–D resulted in zero false negatives among Ss when a classification (i.e., depressed vs nondepressed), based on total CES–D scores, was compared with a classification of these Ss on the basis of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III) criteria. In Study 2, a screening instrument for depression was tested among 679 women (aged 18–65 yrs) attending their family doctors and whose score on the CES–D was 13 or higher. The screening instrument consisted of the CES–D items plus items measuring recent stressful life events and chronic difficulties, social supports, and personal and family history of psychiatric disorder. The inclusion of additional screening items did not meaningfully improve the detection of depressed Ss beyond the level provided by total scores on the CES–D. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Vulnerability to specific life events and prediction of course of disorder in unipolar depressed patients.

Tested a cognitive-life stress integrative model that predicted depressive symptoms following stressful life events when the negative events were personally meaningful to the individual, and likely to be interpreted as depletions or failure in the domain of central relevance to self-worth. 27 unipolar depressed outpatients completed a sociotropy-autonomy scale and were followed prospectively for periods of up to 2 yrs, with periodic assessments of life events and symptoms. As predicted, Ss' periods of worst symptoms followed a 3-mo period in which life event stress that matched their personally relevant domain significantly exceeded that of the nonrelevant domain. For Ss who experienced an onset following a symptom-free period, the severity of symptoms was significantly predicted by the interaction of their autonomy score and achievement events; however, the same pattern did not occur for sociotropy score and interpersonal events. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-complexity as a cognitive buffer against stress-related illness and depression.

This prospective study tested the self-complexity buffering hypothesis that greater self-complexity moderates the adverse impact of stress on depression and illness. This hypothesis follows from a model that assumes self-knowledge is represented in terms of multiple self-aspects. As defined in this model, greater self-complexity involves representing the self in terms of a greater number of cognitive self-aspects and maintaining greater distinctions among self-aspects. Subjects completed measures of stressful events, self-complexity, depression, and illness in two sessions separated by 2 weeks. A multiple regression analysis used depression and illness at Time 2 as outcomes, stressful life events and self-complexity at Time 1 as predictors, and drepression and illness at Time 1 as control variables. The Stress?×?Self-Complexity interaction provided strong support for the buffering hypothesis. Subjects higher in self-complexity were less prone to depression, perceived stress, physical symptoms, and occurrence of the flu and other illnesses following high levels of stressful events. These results suggest that vulnerability to stress-related depression and illness is due, in part, to differences in cognitive representations of the self. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Total life stress: A multimethod validation of the construct and its effects on organizationally valued outcomes and withdrawal behaviors.

Measured the construct of total life stress using an 83-item checklist with 282 full-time, white collar administrative, health care, and clerical personnel working for 5 organizations (mean ages 37.45, 37.74, 36.15, 35.04, and 43.71 yrs). Checklist items concerned stressful job and personal life events. Regression analyses predicted 6 different organizational outcomes using the constructs of job stress, personal life stress, and total life stress, respectively. Greater understanding of the effects of stress was achieved when researchers recognized the separate effects of positive vs negative stress and considered the employee in a holistic perspective by taking into account the combined effects of job stress and personal life stress on employee well-being. Results provide evidence for the convergent validity of the total life stress construct as measured separately by its 2 components, total positive and total negative life stress. (52 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-criticism and conflict resolution in romantic couples.

120 heterosexual college student couples (mean age 21.5 yrs) completed measures of self-criticism and relational schemas and then attempted to resolve 2 conflicts while being videotaped. Overt hostility was rated from the videotapes. In both girlfriends and boyfriends, self-criticism was associated with negative relational schemas and more negative cognitive-affective reactions during the conflict resolution task. Self-critical women displayed greater overt hostility towards their partners. Structural equation modeling (SEM) demonstrated that negative relational schemas functioned as mediating variables that explained negative cognitive affective reactions during the task. The SEM also showed that, in women, negative cognitive-affective reactions predicted overt hostility, which in turn predicted partners' distress and overt hostility. The results bolster cognitive interpersonal analyses of depression by illustrating how cognitive structures associated with a hypothesized vulnerability (self-criticism) can have important interpersonal correlates. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)