Collaboration and resource exchange between professionals and natural support systems.

A number of social researchers have documented how extensively Americans utilize informal helping resources in dealing with personal problems, and interest in the preventative potential of informal social support has been spurred by concurrent research in epidemiology. A definition and preliminary typology of natural support systems are offered as a basis for discussion of their role in the delivery of human services. Opportunities for collaboration and an exchange of resources between professionals and members of informal helping networks are explored, and several ways in which professionals can identify and help to create natural support systems in the community are indicated. (30 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)     

Gender and helping behavior: A meta-analytic review of the social psychological literature.

Contends, on the basis of posited social-role theory of gender and helping, that the male gender role fosters helping that is heroic and chivalrous, whereas the female gender role fosters helping that is nurturant and caring. In social psychological studies, helping behavior has mainly been examined in the context of short-term encounters with strangers. This focus has tended to exclude from the research literature those helping behaviors prescribed by the female gender role, because they are displayed primarily in long-term, close relationships. In contrast, the helping behaviors prescribed by the male gender role have been generously represented in research findings because they are displayed in relationships with strangers as well as in close relationships. Results from a meta-analytic review of sex differences in 172 studies (appended) in helping behavior indicate that in general men helped more than women and women received more help than men. Nevertheless, sex differences in helping were inconsistent across studies and were successfully predicted by various attributes of the studies and the helping behaviors. (96 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Who helps and harms whom? Relational antecedents of interpersonal helping and harming in organizations.

Antecedents of interpersonally directed forms of citizenship and counterproductive behaviors (i.e., interpersonal helping and harming, respectively) have been studied most often under the broad categories of individual differences and job attitudes. Although these behaviors often are exhibited within the confines of interpersonal relationships, the impact of relationship quality and context on such behaviors has been understudied. The present study uses a social networks framework to examine the relational antecedents of interpersonal helping and harming in a sample of 62 members of a college sorority house. Results indicate that relational variables--direct, third-party, and structural or positional characteristics of positive and negative affective networks, and the frequency of voluntary interaction--explain substantial incremental variance (beyond traditional predictors) in helping and harming. Moreover, helping and harming were themselves weakly positively interrelated. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Helping in 36 U.S. cities.

A series of experiments examined the relationship of urbanism to helping. Six types of helping behaviors were studied in a cross-sample of 36 small, medium, and large cities across the United States. The relationship of helping to a series of statistics reflecting the demographic, social, environmental, and economic characteristics of these communities was then examined. The strongest and most consistent predictor of overall helping was population density. There were significant correlations between economic indicators and helping in 3 situations. Helping in some situations also tended to be negatively related to violent crime rates and to environmental problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Social support networks: Informal helping in the human services.

Reviews the book, Social support networks: Informal helping in the human services, edited by James K. Whittaker and James Garbarino (1983). Whittaker and Garbarino have compiled an excellent compendium describing social support systems. The introductory chapters review the history and present political, economic, theoretical, and practical implications of fostering and using the resources of family, community, and self-help groups to alleviate a variety of human problems. The chapters that follow, contributed by experts in their respective fields, give a "state of the art" overview that describes how informal networks operate in mental and physical health care, services to the elderly, child welfare, day care, aid to divorced families, schools, delinquency prevention and treatment, drug abuse treatment, and treatment of those with developmental disabilities. Rehabilitation psychologists should find the book helpful. It constitutes a necessary first step for those interested in developing the area of social support networks by researching the conditions under which various types of help are indeed helpful or harmful. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alterations in cyclin-dependent kinase 2 function during differentiation of primary human keratinocytes

Long-term care for the elderly has recently become an area of great interest for practicing social workers because of the increasing number of aged persons and the important role of government in financing and regulating their care. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to provide a set of estimates on patterns in long-term care service use among older Americans over an eight-year period. This study applied multinomial logistic regression to analyzing the data from the National Long-Term Care Survey of 1982-1989 (NLTCS). The results of this study showed a number of differences from the results with cross-sectional studies. Of the 6,393 sample persons, more than half (56.5%) died over the eight years from 1982 to 1989. The rate of entering nursing homes (12.6%) was low. The rate of using community-based care services was fairly low. About 10.4 percent of the sample received care from helping professional personnel or paid helpers. As expected, the number receiving care from kin and other informal support was high. Long-term care services in the United States were distributed very unequally among various social groups. The indicator of need was not the only determinant of service utilization. Other variables such as number of household members, race, age and education were also important for service utilization. The predictors of deceased versus informal help were need, age, number of household member, gender and marital status. The predictors of nursing home care versus informal help were need, age, number of household members, education, attitude toward nursing home and race. The predictors of community-based help care versus informal help were need, number of household members, and education.     

Perceived social support by children with characteristics of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

Examined students' perceptions of social support behaviors exhibited by significant adults and peers at school. A total of 29 teachers and 94 boys, in Grades 3–6, and their parents participated in the study. Approximately half of the boys displayed significant levels of behaviors characteristic of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The remaining boys did not display characteristics of ADHD. Information on students' academic performance, social skills, self-concept, and problem behaviors was assessed via rating scales completed by the students and their respective parents and teachers. Brief questionnaires were also used to collect perceptions of social support from the teachers and parents. The data indicated that children with characteristics of ADHD perceived lower frequencies of overall social support. Both the ADHD characteristics group and comparison group perceived the importance of social support similarly; social support was moderately and significantly correlated with self-concept and student-reported positive social skill behaviors; and students' perceptions of social support were moderately related to parents' and teachers' perceptions of the frequency of social support they make available. These results are discussed and their implications for future research and practice are outlined. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Instructions and experiential feedback in the treatment of social skills deficits in adults.

36 adult outpatients (aged 19–70 yrs) with social skills deficits participated in an 8-session individual social skills, role-playing training program. Some Ss were given instructions on specific behaviors to modify during role playing; a 2nd group developed its own instructions; a 3rd group was given no instructions but simply role-played the scenes. Half the Ss in each condition also received experiential feedback, which was effective in helping clients become more socially skilled. Instructions on specific behaviors to modify did not significantly improve social skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developing effective helping relationships in health education practice

Health educators who interact directly with the people they serve must be able to establish effective relationships. Helping relationships are effective if they facilitate clients' progress toward health-promoting goals. Health educators are usually well versed in learning activities and spend a significant proportion of their time interacting with clients. However, many health educators have never received explicit training in how to establish effective formal helping relationships. Research on social influence processes has provided a set of empirical findings that suggest interpersonal behaviors that are likely to maximize the effectiveness of formal helping relationships. This literature indicates that formal helping relationships characterized by interpersonal behaviors that enhance client self-esteem and feelings of control are most effective in helping clients achieve specific goals. Interestingly, enhancement of self-esteem and feelings of control are consistent with many definitions of personal empowerment. Since the social influence and empowerment literatures come from very different intellectual roots and have different approaches to power and influence, their convergence is especially notable. These literatures combine to establish the bases for proposing two essential components of effective helping relationships: (1) providing unconditional acceptance and positive regard for clients, and (2) sharing power and control through participatory processes.     

The Advice and Influence Networks of Transformational Leaders.

Existing transformational leadership research has focused primarily on the behaviors of leaders and their effects on followers. The authors extended this research by examining the social networks of managers who exhibit transformational leadership behaviors. Their focus was on the network of relationships that managers develop and whether they hold key positions in the organization's informal social networks. In a field study using data from 39 managers and 130 nonmanagement employees of 6 organizations, the authors found that managers who score higher on transformational leadership tend to hold more central positions in organizational advice and influence networks. Furthermore, the direct reports of these leaders were also more central in informal organizational networks. These results illuminate one of the ways that managers who exhibit transformational leadership behaviors may exert influence in organizations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Extrinsic rewards undermine altruistic tendencies in 20-month-olds.

The current study investigated the influence of rewards on very young children's helping behavior. After 20-month-old infants received a material reward during a treatment phase, they subsequently were less likely to engage in further helping during a test phase as compared with infants who had previously received social praise or no reward at all. This so-called overjustification effect suggests that even the earliest helping behaviors of young children are intrinsically motivated and that socialization practices involving extrinsic rewards can undermine this tendency. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intraocular pressure control after contact transscleral diode cyclophotocoagulation in eyes with intractable glaucoma

In the child health promotion program in Sweden, the public health nurse is responsible for the majority of the work. The purpose of this study was to test the following hypotheses: (1) there are differences in CHP program utilization between mothers in different social positions; (2) there are differences in CHP program utilization between Swedish and foreign-born mothers; (3) there are differences in the way mothers in different social positions value formal and informal social support as a means for solving health problems; and (4) there are differences in the way Swedish and foreign-born mothers value formal and informal social support as a means to solve health problems. A random sample was drawn of 10% of all children born in a particular month. A national postal questionnaire was sent to 850 mothers with children about four to five months old. The response rate was 80%. The CHP program was utilized by 99.6% of the families. When given scenarios describing various problem situations, the mothers stated that they mostly would turn to the public health nurse irrespective of the type of problem. There was no support in this study for the first two hypotheses that there are differences in CHP program utilization between mothers in different social positions and between Swedish and foreign-born mothers. There was support in this study for the two last hypotheses that there are differences in the way mothers in different social positions and the Swedish and foreign-born mothers value nurses, other health care services, relatives/friends, and literature/mass media as a means to solve health problems.     

The his and hers of prosocial behavior: An examination of the social psychology of gender.

Prosocial behavior consists of behaviors regarded as beneficial to others, including helping, sharing, comforting, guiding, rescuing, and defending others. Although women and men are similar in engaging in extensive prosocial behavior, they are different in their emphasis on particular classes of these behaviors. The specialty of women is prosocial behaviors that are more communal and relational, and that of men is behaviors that are more agentic and collectively oriented as well as strength intensive. These sex differences, which appear in research in various settings, match widely shared gender role beliefs. The origins of these beliefs lie in the division of labor, which reflects a biosocial interaction between male and female physical attributes and the social structure. The effects of gender roles on behavior are mediated by hormonal processes, social expectations, and individual dispositions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Variation in bystander behavior related to sexual and intimate partner violence prevention: Correlates in a sample of college students.

Objective: Innovations in violence prevention mobilize peers as active bystanders, yet little is known about what motivates helping in such contexts. We examined correlates of actual helpful behavior (rather than only attitudes) related to the prevention of sexual and intimate partner violence among college students at one university in the United States. Method: Four hundred and six (406) undergraduate students at the University of New Hampshire completed self-report surveys. We assessed attitudes (e.g., rape myth acceptance, bystander confidence) in relation to self-reported helping behavior. Results: Different predictors were significant for the self-report measures of attitude compared to behaviors. Students who self-reported a greater sense of responsibility for ending sexual and relationship violence and greater expressed confidence as a bystander and perceptions of greater benefits of stepping in to help, self-reported greater helping behavior. We found some differences in correlates of helping behavior by type of helping behavior. Conclusions: Correlates of helping differ when actual behaviors performed in the community compared to attitudes were assessed. Prevention strategies that increase community members' sense of responsibility for ending violence, build confidence in helping, and support norms that encourage active bystanders are needed to increase helping behavior to ameliorate this widespread community problem. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sustained helping without obligation: Motivation, longevity of service, and perceived attitude change among AIDS volunteers.

A conceptual framework that identifies psychological and behavioral features associated with antecedents, experiences, and consequences of volunteerism is presented, and an inventory that measures 5 specific motivations for AIDS volunteerism is developed and cross-validated. Then a field study of 116 AIDS volunteers is presented in which a helping disposition, volunteer motivations, and social support (as antecedents), and personal satisfaction and organizational integration (as experiences) are used to predict duration of service over 2? years. Structural equation analyses indicate that dispositional helping influences satisfaction and integration but not duration of service, whereas greater motivation and less social support predict longer active volunteer service. The model is generalized to the prediction of perceived attitude change. Implications for conceptualizations of motivation, theoretical issues in helping, and practical concerns of volunteer organizations are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluation of patterned stimulation for use in surface functional electrical stimulation systems

From a gerontological point of view, social work which accompanies care processes is absolutely necessary. The social production of care depends crucially on an appropriate attention toward the fitting between informal and formal help systems. Social work can support these fitting processes both on a firm level and on a neutral level. Some specific attributes of social work with elder care-dependant living in their private homes are discussed, such as threatening, difficult or ashaming aspects, as well as the necessity of all involved persons agreeing in the developed help-planning process. Practice research and Social science perspectives are discussed as appropriate reference system for life-world orientated social work with informal caregiving arrangements. Concerning the support of informal caregivers as an important example of ambulant social work with elder people, some dimensions of theoretical and practical professionality are proposed.     

When helping helps: Autonomous motivation for prosocial behavior and its influence on well-being for the helper and recipient.

Self-determination theory posits that the degree to which a prosocial act is volitional or autonomous predicts its effect on well-being and that psychological need satisfaction mediates this relation. Four studies tested the impact of autonomous and controlled motivation for helping others on well-being and explored effects on other outcomes of helping for both helpers and recipients. Study 1 used a diary method to assess daily relations between prosocial behaviors and helper well-being and tested mediating effects of basic psychological need satisfaction. Study 2 examined the effect of choice on motivation and consequences of autonomous versus controlled helping using an experimental design. Study 3 examined the consequences of autonomous versus controlled helping for both helpers and recipients in a dyadic task. Finally, Study 4 manipulated motivation to predict helper and recipient outcomes. Findings support the idea that autonomous motivation for helping yields benefits for both helper and recipient through greater need satisfaction. Limitations and implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Strangers, travelers, and Greyhound terminals: A study of small-scale helping behaviors.

Four questions designed to elicit helping behaviors were posed to 646 adult strangers in 120 bus terminals throughout the US. American and Australian experimenters (Es) tested whether familiar strangers (fellow bus travelers) would help more than total strangers and whether helping effects were influenced by nationality. Results indicate that Australian and American females, but not male American Es, were helped more by familiar strangers. Chi-square analyses also demonstrated an interaction effect between E's sex, nationality, and familiar–total stranger helping. The findings for Australian Es are considered to be consequences of a particular social role, labeled "foreign tourist," which legitimizes help-seeking behavior. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individualism and interdependence.

The value system of individualism underlying many contemporary psychological theories has been criticized on grounds that it is antithetical to social interdependence. The critics have developed a philosophical analysis that links individualism to unscrupulous competition, atomistic self-containment, and alienation. In contrast, the principles espoused by the proponents of individualism in psychology are derived from a philosophical orientation defined by eudaimonism, freedom of choice, personal responsibility, and ethical universality. Within this framework, the holding of individualistic values is hypothesized by the present author to facilitate, not inhibit, helping, cooperation, and other prosocial behaviors. A review of the literature provides extensive support for this hypothesis. (83 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)