Buffering Hypothesis Research Articles

Differential social support and life change as contributors to the social class^distress relationship in older adults.

Four hypotheses previously put forth to explain the strong association between social class and mental health in the general population were examined in 1,326 older adults (55 years and older). Respondents were interviewed 3 times at 6-month intervals. Lower class was associated with more past life changes (occurring before Wave 1) and more subsequent life events (occurring between Waves 1 and 3); these changes were predictive of distress, supporting the differential exposure hypothesis. Lower class was associated with weaker social support (embeddedness), which was related to distress, supporting the resource deterrent hypothesis. There was little evidence that people of the lower classes were more vulnerable to stress or that their status was due to their weaker social support; thus, the differential vulnerability and applied buffering hypotheses were not consistently supported. Social support does appear to be a versatile resource for older adults. A significant portion of the class-distress relationship was not accounted for by life change, social support, or the interaction between these factors.

Adjustment to work among part-time nurse students

This study examined theoretical relationships among the three stress-related. variables:(1) perceived pressure of time for the school and hospital responsibilities as stressors, (2) job satisfaction, psychophisical exhausion, and school-life satisfaction as strain measures, and (3) a number of friends in school and hospital support for attending school as social support measures.Perceived shortage of time highly correlated with two strain measures: psychophisical exhausion and job satisfaction with working conditions. Hospital support for attending school highly correlated with all of the strain measures.A moderating effect of social support on the relationship between the time shortage and strain measures showed two different patterns, reflecting the differetial quality of social support measures (as moderators). One result obtained using hospital support as a moderator confirmed the hypothesis on the stress buffering effect. When a number of friends was employed as a moderator, students with both fewer and moderate number of friends confirmed the stress buffering hypothesis, but for the students with a large number of friends the result showed disagreement with this hypothesis.As a conclusion, implications of the findings of this sutdy, especially of those regarding the social support effects were discussed for practices of the nurse education and development at the work place.

Women's Unemployment Patterns in Postwar Business Cycles: Class Difference, The Gender Segregation of Work and Deindustrialization

This paper argues that the gender difference in unemployment rates over postwar business cycles and the changes in that differential in the 1980s (women's unemployment rates dropping below men's rates during the recession) can be explained by the continuing gender segregation of work and deindustrialization. My version of the segmentation hypothesis finds empirical support in the average pattern of men's and women's total unemployment rates, in the gender unemployment rate patterns for major occupational groups and in the fact that working-class women's unemployment rates have dropped below working-class men's rates during most postwar recessions. In addition, econometric analysis shows a tight fit between the gender differential in unemployment rates and deindustrialization, a variable whose explanatory power is rooted in the gender segregation of work. The final section of the paper assesses the implications of my findings for the other two major explanations of the effect of recessions on women: the buffer hypothesis and the substitution hypothesis.

Life Strains and Depressive Affect Among Women

This study examined the role of social support provided by spouse, friends, and relatives on relationships between strains and depressive affect among women. Strains from three life domains - financial, marital, and parental - were included. Moderated multiple regression analyses addressed main effect, buffering, and coping hypotheses regarding the role of social support. Results indicated that social support operated differently depending on the source of support and type of strain experienced. Generally, results were consistent with main effect and coping hypotheses. Only support provided by relatives played a significant moderating role in the strain - outcome relationship.

Social Support and Outcome in Teenage Pregnancy

This paper presents information on the role and significance of social support for the occurrence of health and birth problems among adolescent mothers and their babies. Pregnant teenagers (N = 268) were interviewed during the course of pregnancy and again approximately four weeks after delivery, and hospital records were abstracted. The significance of family support, friend support, and partner support, assessed during the pregnancy, were examined in relation to infant and mother outcomes assessed at or after the birth. Infant outcome was indexed by birth weight, with gestational age controlled; mother outcome in terms of psychological adaptation was indexed by depressive symptomatology among adolescent mothers. Socioeconomic background was found to influence relationships between social support and both infant and mother outcomes.

Coping with Provider Role Strain: Adaptive Cultural Resources among Black Husband-Fathers

This study investigated provider role strain and adaptive cultural resources as predictors of global family satisfaction in a national sample of Black husband-fathers (N = 372). Multiple classification analysis revealed that provider role strain predictors had a significant negative effect on family satisfaction, with the harmful effect of objective difficulty being exacerbated by subjective reactions. In line with a role strain-adaptation model, cultural resources had offsetting positive effects with kinship bond and religious belief emerging as especially powerful predictors. In support of a buffering hypothesis, kinship bond eliminated harmful effects of both husband and father role discouragement. However, kinship bond failed to mitigate the harmful effect of objective employment difficulty. Findings not only provide important insight into the social psychology of role strain and adaptation, but also have relevance for clinical practice and public policy.

Life events and coping resources as predictors of stress symptoms in adolescents

This study explores the effect of coping resources and life events on psychological and physical symptoms in a sample of adolescents. Both main effects and a buffering hypothesis were tested. The sample was composed of 108 junior high school students who were administered the Coping Resources Inventory and a life events measure and were then followed up 16 weeks later with administration of the symptom measure. Overall, the data support previous findings that negative life events and coping resources are meaningful predictors of self-reported psychological and physical symptoms. Main effects were found for both coping resources and stressful life experiences and each contributed about the same degree of predictive validity; the interaction was not significant. Therefore, this study does not support the notion that coping resources mediate the stress-disease relationship. Overall, the data support current conceptions of coping resources as adaptive capacities that reduce the likelihood of stress induced disease, contributing independently of life stress to the prediction of health. The implications of the study for health and counselling psychology are discussed.

Alternative models of the stress buffering hypothesis.

The interactive effects of life events and social support on a DSM-III diagnosis of major depressive episode and on number of depressive symptoms were examined. Data are from a stratified random sample of 3,732 community-dwelling adults. The paper focuses on differences between linear probability models and logistic regression models with regard to the definition, detection, and interpretation of interaction effects. Results indicate that conclusions about the interaction of life events and social support are model dependent. Using a linear probability model, significant event by support interactions were observed for both depressive symptoms and major depression. Using logistic regression, which estimates interactions in terms of odds ratios, no significant event by support interactions were observed. Discussion addresses the interpretive implications of modeling interaction in terms of probability differences versus odds ratios.

Social Contact, Loneliness, and Mass Media Use: A Test of Two Hypotheses1

The possible connections between social variables such as frequency of social activity and subjective loneliness on the one hand, and extent of mass media use on the other, have received relatively little empirical attention. In this investigation, two related hypotheses concerning such links are proposed. The compensation hypothesis holds that persons with little social contact or greater loneliness will be more likely to utilize mass media to compensate for social impoverishment. The buffering hypothesis more specifically predicts that such compensation is effective; that is, persons “at risk” for loneliness because of diminished social contact may be at least partially protected from subjective loneliness due to heavy use of mass media. The hypotheses were tested in two samples: college students and a group of adolescent males attending a summer camp. Little support was found for the compensation hypothesis. While limited support was found for the buffering hypothesis, analyses also revealed an unexpected opposite effect; for the music variable, heavy media use actually intensified the association between social deficits and subjective loneliness. Some limitations of this study are discussed, and issues related to the unexpected “intensification” effects are presented.

The Effects of Emotional Support on Burnout, Work Stress and Mental Health Among Norwegian and American Social Workers

This article examines the effects of emotional support on work stress and burnout among human service workers in the U.S.A. and Norway. Since work stress has been identified as an important predictor of job dissatisfaction and burnout, it is the purpose of this study to examine the ability of emotional support to moderate or buffer the impact of job stress. Previous research on this subject has shown some support for the buffering hypotheses, but the effect has not been adequately explored within the mental health professions, nor has the concept been extensively assessed by comparative studies of such professionals in two different countries. The results of this study, based upon moderated regression analyses, indicate that emotional support is inversely correlated with burnout and stress. However, buffering effects were not observed to any significant degree in either national sample.

Social Support, Stress, and Psychological Distress among Older Black and White Adults

This analysis examines the relationship among sources of stress, sources of support, and psychological distress among black and white elderly living in the community. The data are drawn from an epidemiological survey conducted in 1984 and show that black and white elders are equally likely to have family and friends available. and to ask relatives for help when they have problems. Older black people, however, are more likely than their white counterparts to ask friends more frequently for help. Using regression models and adjusting for age, sex, education and marital status, the results provide qualified support for a buffering hypothesis. Asking family and friends for help does modify the relationship between financial concerns and psychological distress among older adults. Friends are an important resource for coping with financial concerns among older blacks, and relatives are an important resource for coping with financial concerns among older, low-income whites. Finally, there is no evidence for a buffering hypothesis of calling on family or friends for help among older. high-income whites. These findings illustrate the need to examine the buffering effects of specific sources of support in relation to specific sources of stress, and the need to examine how race and socioeconomic status shape these relationships.

Development of a Multidimensional Index for Assessing Social Support in Rehabilitation

Social support has been shown, in many instances, to moderate health outcomes after stress or strain. On the basis of the buffering hypothesis, which suggests that support acts to modify stress and therefore to diminish its impact on health (Turner, 1983), social support may be an important factor in the adjustment process that follows a major disabling illness or injury. Before social support can be used in rehabilitation, however, measurement tools are needed that explicitly define social support, assess support in a multidimensional way, and measure the unique support issues of persons with disabilities. This paper discusses the development and preliminary psychometric evaluation of such a measure. The instrument, called the Social Support Inventory for Stroke Survivors (SSISS), was developed specifically for use with stroke patients. With minor modifications, it can also be used with persons who have other disabilities. Research and clinical implications of the SSISS are discussed. Test–retest reliability of the SSISS over 1 week was established at .91. Internal consistency of the scaled version of the instrument was .85. Test construction procedures contributed to content and face validity, and empirical work supported construct and concurrent validity. Multidimensional scaling revealed an underlying structure that was consistent with the theoretical framework for the test.

Occupational Stressors, Individual Strains, and Social Supports among Police Officers

In a survey of 121 police officers of a Midwestern state, it was found that occupational stressors (under-utilization of skills, quantitative workload, and job future ambiguity) and several types of social support are related to individual psychological strain. An interaction between occupational stressors and instrumental social support was opposite from the predictions of the buffering hypothesis, and explanations are offered for this "reverse buffering" result. Additionally, police in supervisory positions experience less stress and more social support than do nonsupervisory police officers.

Social support, family separation, and well-being among military wives.

The effects on general well-being of perceived social support, stress, and the Stress X Support interaction were examined in a sample of military wives. Support was defined as the perception of being able to count on another military wife for help with a personal or family problem. Stress was defined as the amount of time spent in the field by the soldiers in the husbands' units. Stress was found to have an adverse effect on well-being only among those who did not perceive themselves as having social support, which is consistent with the buffering hypothesis of social support. Major predictors of social support included husband's rank, type of unit, and stress. This suggests that to some extent stress itself stimulates adaptation by motivating individuals to enlist support from others. This may be a partial explanation of the buffering effect found in this study.

Asymmetry of a-b ridge count and behavioral discordance of monozygotic twins.

Nondirectional asymmetry of paired morphological structures may reflect a decrease in developmental buffering, thereby increasing susceptibility to developmental noise. The palmara-b ridge count, measuring the size of the second interdigital area of the hand, yields a convenient and promising index of developmental canalization in normal adults. We constrasted 28 monozygotic twin pairs in which one or both members exhibiteda-b ridge-count asymmetry, with 32 paris exhibiting little or no left-right asymmetry. The asymmetric paris were significantly less similar for many Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) scales, and total variances of these scales tended to be greater among individual twins with extreme left-right asymmetries. The results suggest that an asymmetrica-b ridge count may identify individuals who are poorly buffered from developmental noise. But the asymmetry may arise from the twinning process itself, and our buffering hypothesis remains to be tested in twins of known placental type and in longitudinal instability of asymmetric nontwins.

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 depression and illness at Time 1 as control variables. The Stress X 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.

Anger in type a women: Implications for coronary heart disease

The present study examines the relationship between Type A behaviour and anger in a sample of managerial women. The Type A behaviour pattern is hard driving, job-devoted lifestyle which is associated with a significantly increased risk of coronary heart disease in men as in women. Anger and hostility have been reported to be critical components of the Type A behaviour pattern which contribute to coronary heart disease. This research also examines the relationship between occupational demands and job anger in managerial women. Occupational demands include demands particularly unique to women in non-traditional occupational roles such as inequity of pay, underutilization of skills, low boss support and perceived sex discrimination. State (job) and Trait Anger were also assessed as were various psychological and behavioural outcomes such as state anxiety, depression, job satisfaction, absenteeism, and “intention to turnover”. Results showed that sex discrimination was a significant occupational stressor in Type As only. Further results of a multiple regression analysis indicated tha for Type As only, sex discrimination was positively associated with job anger when social support from one's boss was low. However, with increasing support, Type As were less likely to report anger when discrimination was high. In conclusion, the results of this study have demonstrated that social support can function as a buffer against anger, thus extending the buffering hypothesis originally put forth to refer to the buffering effects of social support and anxiety.

The Social Costs of Unemployment: Implications for Social Support

Social support is typically viewed as a stable factor that is potentially an important moderator of the effects of stressful life events. This study examines the effect of one economic stressor, unemployment, on social support, the mediation of this effect, and then the stress-buffering hypothesis. Data were taken from a longitudinal panel study of 82 blueand white-collar men who recently experienced unemployment. Social support was measured in three ways: 1) marital and family support; 2) help (from outside the family) with problems; and 3) number and frequency of contacts with social network members. Following unemployment, a significant decline in two offour indicators of marital support was found for all workers. When the number of weeks of unemployment was considered, a decrease in the quality of the marital relation and an increase in help with problems was found for white-collar workers. A decrease in frequency of contact with network members for blue-collar workers was also observed. Mediation analyses indicated that unemployment has a negative effect on marital and family support in part through its effect on the husband's psychological wvell-being. Two different methods for estimating the stress-buffering effects of supports most susceptible to change during job loss indicate that buffering does occur. The conceptual implications of the nonindependence between stressful events and social supports for the stress buffering hypothesis are examined.

Life problems, social supports, and psychological functioning of emotionally disturbed and well low-income women

The relationship between stressful life events, social supports, and psychological functioning was examined in a low-income population of schizophrenic, depressed, and well mothers of young children. It was expected that the disturbed populations and those rated lowest on psychological functioning would have the most problems and the fewest resources. A buffering effect was hypothesized such that for the individuals with many problems, those with many resources would show better functioning than those with few resources. The results indicated that neither number of problems nor number of resources was related significantly to levels of psychological functioning. For disturbed women, having fewer problems may be associated with higher functioning. Both schizophrenic and depressed women reported more problems, but also more resources, than well women. Finally, having many resources did not affect the level of functioning of those with many stressful life events. Results were interpreted as failing to support the buffering hypothesis. Alternative explanations are proposed in terms of factors predisposing to vulnerability (e.g., low self-esteem) and alternative conceptualizations of social support.

Social support and adaptation to stress by the elderly.

The first of a two-phase project is reported that examined the prospective effects of stress and social support on the physical and mental health of the elderly. A sample of 50 elderly subjects was assessed at two points in time over a 6-month period. Results indicated that social support was a significant predictor of physical health status, whereas mental health was related to the Stress X Social Support interaction term. These latter results were consistent with the buffering hypothesis, in that high levels of social support served to reduce the negative impact of stress on mental health. Individuals who were in better mental health at the initial assessment experienced fewer stressful events and higher levels of social support over the subsequent 6-month period. The implications of these findings for research and theory regarding the relation between stress and social support are discussed.