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)     

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)     

On going to the counselor: Contributions of life stress and social supports to the decision to seek psychological counseling.

Studied life stresses and social supports in 100 17–27 yr old college students to specify how these factors contributed to the decision of 50 Ss to seek psychological counseling. Life stress was measured with a life events checklist that yielded scores on the number and perceived impact of events. Social support was measured with a network size index that yielded scores on the number of potential and actual providers of support in each of 6 support categories. Results show that Ss who sought counseling reported no more negative events than their peers, but they reported greater impact of these events, fewer positive events, less family closeness, less frequent speaking to their parents, and more family history of seeking counseling. Ss who sought counseling reported having fewer available supports in 5 of the 6 categories of support. It is suggested that given equal numbers of stressful events, the likelihood of seeking counseling increases as social supports decrease. (53 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Person and contextual features of daily stress reactivity: Individual differences in relations of undesirable daily events with mood disturbance and chronic pain intensity.

Examined the mood-related and pain-related consequences of daily stressors among 74 individuals with rheumatoid arthritis who supplied daily reports for 75 days. Meta-analyses of time series regression coefficients disclosed a significant same-day relation between events and mood but no consistent effects of events on same-day pain, next-day mood, or next-day pain. With distributional characteristics of the daily data controlled, Ss with more active inflammatory disease showed a greater positive relation of events with same-day and next-day pain, those with a recent history of more major life stressors showed a greater positive relation of events with next-day pain, and those with less social support showed a greater positive relation of events with next-day mood disturbance. Implications of these and other findings for theories of stress and adaptation and the methodological challenges of daily experience research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Illusion of control: Invulnerability to negative affect and depressive symptoms after laboratory and natural stressors.

Examined whether individual differences in susceptibility to the illusion of control predicted differential vulnerability to depressive responses after a laboratory failure and naturally occurring life stressors. The illusion of control decreased the likelihood that Ss (N?=?145) would (1) show immediate negative mood reactions to the lab failure, (2) become discouraged after naturally occurring negative life events, and (3) experience increases in depressive symptoms a month later given the occurrence of a high number of negative life events. In addition, the stress-moderating effect of the illusion of control on later depressive symptoms appeared to be mediated in part by its effect on reducing the discouragement Ss experienced from the occurrence of negative life events. These findings provide support for the hopelessness theory of depression and for the optimistic illusion–mental health link. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Response biases and the relation between negative life events and psychological symptoms.

Investigated whether reporting biases can account for the correlation between negative life events and subclinical psychological symptoms. 73 undergraduates each brought a close friend to the experiment. Ss completed the Beck Depression Inventory, the Brief Symptom Inventory, the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, and a college student life events schedule. Friends were asked to report about life events experienced by the Ss. Findings did not support an S reporting bias associated with social desirability, depression, or symptoms. For one of the life events scales, depression was significantly associated with a higher rate of agreement between Ss and friends as to which negative events occurred to Ss. There were significant correlations between symptom and depression measures and life events measures that were free of S-reporting biases (Ss' negative life events reported by both Ss and their significant others, as well as Ss' negative life events as reported by significant others alone). Data suggest that response biases may not be able to account for the relation between negative events and psychological symptoms. It is contended, however, that the hypothesis that negative life events play a significant role in symptom development remains plausible. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-advocacy and self-esteem.

Explored the utility of treating self-esteem as an attitude that might be vulnerable to the same kinds of experimental manipulations usually directed at more traditional, less consequential attitudinal issues. Within an attitudinal advocacy paradigm, 109 undergraduates wrote 3 essays either about their personality attributes or about social propositions. Half the Ss writing on each of these topics were told to advocate a positive position (i.e., self-laudatory or proposition supporting) in their essays. The remaining Ss, although induced to advocate positive positions, were led to believe that they could elect to write negative (self-deprecatory or issue-opposing) essays. As anticipated, Ss who wrote the self-laudatory essays subsequently rated themselves more favorably than did Ss who wrote in support of social propositions. The latter Ss showed a corresponding advocacy effect with regard to the social proposition that they had espoused. The manipulation of perceived choice did not influence the magnitude of the advocacy effect. The results are regarded as encouraging with respect to the application of laboratory-derived attitude change procedures to issues of high personal relevance and clinical importance. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Locus of control as a modifier of the relationship between stressors and moods.

In the search for moderators of negative life events, locus of control (LOC) has been thought to be one of the more potentially important personality variables. Recent research has substantiated this hypothesis to a limited degree. The present 3 experiments with 216 undergraduates presents stronger indications for the utility of variables. LOC measures (Rotter's Internal–External LOC Scale) interacted with recalled negative life events in predicting mood states that were assessed weekly over a period of several weeks. Multiple regression analyses indicated that negative life events that had occurred during the high school years had a lingering effect on the current mood states of the more external Ss. On the other hand, more recent negative life events resulted in mood disturbances for all Ss regardless of LOC scores, although externals were equally distraught in the absence of negative events. Multiple correlations between negative life events, LOC, and mood scores attained sizable magnitudes. Positive life events, on the other hand, had relatively slight effects on subsequent mood disturbance. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social comparison and depression: Company's effect on misery.

Two studies examined the social comparison processes of 50 depressed and 48 nondepressed college students selected on the basis of their scores on the Beck Depression Inventory. In the 1st study, Ss' preferences for information from others were assessed after they had received a manipulation intended to improve or worsen their mood states. The responses of the depressed Ss provide evidence of downward comparison: They indicate a preference for information from people who were experiencing negative affect, but only when they themselves were also experiencing relatively negative affect, not when their moods had been temporarily improved. In the 2nd study, Ss' moods were assessed before and after they had received information indicating another person was currently experiencing highly negative affect. This information had little effect on the nondepressed Ss; however, the mood states of the depressed Ss improved after they read the information. Results suggest that realizing that others are doing worse may help depressed persons to feel somewhat better. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adler's psychology (of use) today: Personal history of traumatic life events as a self-handicapping strategy.

Investigated the hypothesis that the reporting of a history of traumatic life events may serve as a strategy to control attributions about performance in an evaluative setting (i.e., self-handicapping). 140 female undergraduates completed the state form of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 experimental conditions (i.e., 2 evaluation threats by 2 traumatic history instructions). In groups of 7, Ss received specific (the project concerned development of local norms for measures of social intelligence) or innocuous information. After completion of an initial questionnaire, Ss either were told that traumatic history has no effect on task performance or received no instructions about filling out measures of the traumatic value of past life experiences and 2 manipulation checks. Results, as predicted, show that Ss emphasized the adversity of events and experiences in their background when an uncertain evaluation was expected and when a traumatic background would serve as a suitable excuse for potential failure. Results generally support the hypothesized self-protective reporting of traumatic life events. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social comparison information and judgments about depression and seeking counseling.

Examined the effects of social comparison information, and the interaction of this information with symptom severity and sex, on 40 male and 40 female undergraduates' evaluations of depression symptoms and their willingness to seek counseling. Ss were administered the Depression Adjective Checklist—Form E (DACL—E) and the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Help Scale, as well as ratings of willingness to seek counseling and manipulation checks. A significant main effect was found on DACL—E scores for social comparison information. Ss who received serious social comparison information reported the highest depression scores. In addition, a significant interaction was found between social comparison information and sex of S in DACL—E scores. A significant main effect was also found on Ss' ratings of willingness to seek counseling for social comparison information and sex of S. Ss were more willing to seek counseling help when the social comparison information was serious. Also, female Ss were more willing to seek counseling than were male Ss. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Affect, personality, and social activity.

Examined relations between social activity and state and trait measures of Positive and Negative Affect. In Study 1, Ss completed scales relevant to 3-factor models of personality and a weekly mood and social activity questionnaire for 13 wks. In Study 2, Ss completed measures of the 5-factor model of personality and a daily mood and social activity survey for 6–7 wks. In within- and between-Ss analyses, socializing correlated significantly with state measures of Positive Affect and with trait measures of Extraversion/Positive Emotionality. These relations were relatively general across various types of positive affect and social events; however, specific types of social events also were differentially related to affect. In contrast, social activity had no consistent association with measures of Negative Affect or the other personality dimensions. The results support a temperamental view of Extraversion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mood, self-efficacy, and performance standards: Lower moods induce higher standards for performance.

Examined the effects of induced mood on personal standards for performance and judgments of one's performance capabilities, or self-efficacy judgments. Three experiments involving 208 undergraduates were conducted. In Exp 1, standards and self-efficacy judgments were assessed on common social and academic tasks. In Exp 2, these variables were assessed on 2 novel tasks. In both experiments, negative mood induced higher standards for performance. Induced mood had no effect on perceived self-efficacy. Negative mood Ss thus held minimal standards for performance that significantly exceeded the levels of performance they judged they actually could attain. Exp 3 provided support for the hypothesis that negative mood raises standards by lowering evaluations of prospective outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of contingent and noncontingent feedback and subject expectancies on electoencephalogram biofeedback training.

80 undergraduates either received auditory feedback contingent on their production of alpha or they received noncontingent feedback. In addition, Ss were led to expect either a positive or a negative experience. Ss who received contingent feedback produced significantly more alpha than Ss who received noncontingent feedback, but the type of feedback did not seem related to mood. Instead, Ss led to expect a positive experience reported significant reductions in anxiety. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality and social resources in stress resistance.

Examined personality, social assets, and perceived social support as moderators of the effects of stressful life events on illness onset. In a group of 170 middle- and upper-level male executives (aged 32–65 yrs), personality hardiness (assessed by 3 scales of the Alienation Test, the Security scale of the California Life Goals Evaluation Schedule, and Rotter's Internal–External Locus of Control Scale) and stressful life events (an adaptation of the Schedule of Recent Events) consistently influenced illness scores, the former serving to lower symptomatology (Seriousness of Illness Survey), the latter to increase it. Perceived supervisor support had its predicted positive effect. Executives under high stress who perceived support from their supervisors had lower illness scores than those without support. Perceived family support, on the other hand, showed a negative effect on health when reported by those low in hardiness. Social assets made no significant impact on health status. Results underscore the value of differentiating between types of social resources and of monitoring the effects of 2 or more stress-resistance resources in a single study. (41 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Wanting to and having to help: Separate motivations for positive mood and guilt-induced helping.

In the 1st of 2 field experiments, 90 adults received a positive mood induction or no stimulus followed by a guilt induction, a distraction control, or no stimulus. Both positive mood and guilt inductions were found to produce increases in helping; the distraction control had no effect. Presentation of positive mood prior to guilt produced no increase in helping. The latter result suggests that positive mood and guilt may entail mutually inhibitory motivations. To separate the 2 motivations, a 2nd experiment with 200 Ss was conducted using 2 types of charity requests. In this experiment, the positive mood manipulation produced increases in helping only to a request stressing the desirability of helping, while the guilt manipulation produced increases only to a request stressing an obligation to help. The interaction of the positive mood and guilt indications produced no increase in helping to either type of request. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The motivational and emotional consequences of considering positive or negative possibilities for an upcoming event.

The hypothesis that attention to negative possibilities for an upcoming event can have advantages for performance in comparison with a more optimistic approach was examined in 2 studies. Focus of attention to positive or negative possibilities for a social interaction was manipulated for Ss previously identified as optimists or defensive pessimists in the social domain. In Study 1, negatively focused defensive pessimists performed better in their conversations than positively focused defensive pessimists on several dimensions (e.g., talk time, perceived effort, and sociability). Optimists' behavior was unaffected by the focus manipulation. However, all negatively focused Ss felt worse after their conversations than did positively focused Ss. Study 2 examined the cognitive process by which a negative focus may lead to positive behaviors. Some pessimists may benefit from an initial negative focus that is not accompanied by lowered expectations and that actually facilitates positive thoughts about the self. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychosocial adjustment of adolescent children of a depressed, arthritic, or normal parent.

Examined the joint effects of having a parent with a psychological or physical disability and stressful life events on the mental health of 3 groups of adolescents: 16 adolescent children of a depressed parent, 16 adolescent children of a parent with rheumatoid arthritis, and 16 adolescent children of parents free from psychological or physical disability. Ss were asked to complete a battery of assessments, including the SCL-90, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Family Environment Scale, and scales assessing life events and satisfaction with school. It was found that, in contrast to the normal group, Ss with arthritic parents reported lower self-esteem, whereas Ss with depressed parents reported lower self-esteem and more symptomatology. However, the 2 risk groups did not differ in terms of mental health or family and school adjustment. Both negative and positive life events were strongly related to poorer adjustment, but only for Ss with depressed and arthritic parents. There was a significant interaction effect of parental disability (depressed vs normal) and negative life events on symptomatology, with the Ss with depressed parents who experienced few negative life events reporting symptom levels equivalent to that of the normal group. Within-group analyses revealed that a positive familial social climate was related to better adjustment among all 3 groups: satisfactory school involvements were related to better adjustment among the depressed-parent and normal groups. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mood and the formation of attitudes.

Conducted 2 studies to examine how mood influences the attitudes formed by 72 undergraduates (Study 1) and 45 undergraduates (Study 2). After reading the Velten mood induction cards, Ss were presented with positive and negative belief statements about an unfamiliar attitude object. Measures of attitudes, statements recalled, and evaluations of statements were taken. In both studies, mood was shown to influence attitudes. Moreover, in Study 1, Ss evaluated both positive and negative statements in line with their mood. These results are consistent with the research of D. M. Mackie and L. T. Worth (see record 1989-31851-001) on the effects of positive mood on persuasion and suggest that negative mood may also operate to encourage the use of heuristic processing of information. No evidence was found for a mood-congruity effect in either study. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cynical hostility and vulnerability to disease: Social support, life stress, and physiological response to conflict.

34 extremely high and 34 low scorers on the hostility (Ho) scale proposed by W. Cook and D. Medley (1954) were selected from a pool of male undergraduates. Consistent with previous findings, high-Ho Ss reported greater anger proneness and a more cynical view of others than did low-Ho Ss. The high-Ho group also tended to be more hostile and less friendly during role-played interactions involving high and low levels of interpersonal conflict. High-Ho Ss displayed greater diastolic blood pressure reactivity during interpersonal conflict and reported less social support and more negative life events and daily irritants then did low-Ho Ss. Results support the interpretations of the Ho scale as a measure of cynical hostility and are consistent with the hypothesis that hostility is related to disease by way of excessive physiological reactivity and a generally stressful, unsupportive social network. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)