Social Psychological Resources Research Articles

Alcohol use in New York after the terrorist attacks: A study of the effects of psychological trauma on drinking behavior

Research has suggested that exposure to psychological trauma is associated with increased abuse of psychoactive substances, particularly alcohol. To assess this, we analyzed alcohol consumption, binge drinking, and alcohol dependence among a random sample of 1681 New York City adults 1 year and 2 years after the September 11 attacks. In multivariate models controlling for demographic factors, other stressor exposures, social psychological resources, and history of anti-social behavior, we found that greater exposure to the World Trade Center disaster (WTCD) was associated with greater alcohol consumption at 1 year and 2 years after this event. In addition, our analyses also indicated that exposure to the WTCD was associated with binge drinking at 1 year after but not 2 years after this event. Alcohol dependence, assessed as present in either year 1 or year 2, also was positively associated with greater WTCD exposures. Posttraumatic stress disorder was not associated with alcohol use, once WTCD exposure and other covariates were controlled. Our study suggests that exposure to psychological trauma may be associated with increases in problem drinking long after exposure and deserves further investigation.

Predicting the early therapeutic alliance in the treatment of drug misuse

To predict the early therapeutic alliance from a range of potentially relevant factors, including clients' social relationships, motivation and psychological resources, and counsellors' professional experience and ex-user status. The study recruited 187 clients starting residential rehabilitation treatment for drug misuse in three UK services. Counsellor and client information was assessed at intake, and client and counsellor ratings of the alliance were obtained during weeks 1, 2 and 3. The intake assessment battery included scales on psychological wellbeing, treatment motivation, coping strategies and attachment style. Client and counsellor versions of the Working Alliance Inventory (WAI-S) were used for weekly alliance measurement. Hierarchical linear models were used to examine the relationship between alliance and predictor variables. Clients who had better motivation, coping strategies, social support and a secure attachment style were more likely to develop good alliances. Findings with regard to counsellor characteristics were not clear cut: clients rated their relationships with ex-user counsellors, experienced counsellors and male counsellors as better, but more experienced counsellors rated their alliances as worse. The findings offer important leads as to what interventions might improve the therapeutic alliance. Further work will need to establish whether the therapeutic alliance and ultimately treatment outcomes can be enhanced by working on improving clients' motivation and psychosocial resources.

Flood and Psychological Well-Being: Direct, Mediating, and Moderating Effects

Recent attention to terrorism and natural disasters has shifted public attention toward understanding how disasters shape our lives and affect our mental health. The major challenge of stress research is to study acute stress using prospective designs that make use of major theoretical models such as the stress process model. Using prospective, representative data (N = 1,735), this study measures the direct, mediating, and moderating impact of the 1993 Midwest floods for three major outcomes typically associated with natural disasters: depression anxiety, and PTSD. Using the stress process model as a guiding framework, regression analyses revealed that the flood significantly elevated symptoms of depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress. Adding social-psychological resources such as social support and sense of control into the equation reduced the impact of the flood on well-being suggesting evidence for a mediating effect. This study also found evidence that social-psychological resources modify the relationship between flood and well-being.

Stress and Well-Being in the Aftermath of the World Trade Center Attack: the Continuing Effects of a Communitywide Disaster.

In this study, we examine the relationship between exposure to the World Trade Center disaster (WTCD) and the well-being of adults living in New York City (NYC) at the time of the attacks by using a stress process model. One year after the attacks, we conducted a telephone survey of a cross-sectional random sample of city residents with an oversample of residents who had received mental health treatment since the attacks (N = 2,368). The survey gathered information about respondents' demographic characteristics, exposure to the WTCD, other stressful events, and social psychological resources. The dependent variable (health status) was measured by using the Short Form-12 (SF-12) mental health and physical health scales. Overall, the greater the exposure to the events surrounding the WTCD, the poorer the person's psychological well-being, even after controlling for demographic characteristics, other stressors, and social psychological resources. Exposure was only weakly related to physical well-being, once other factors were taken into account. The findings clearly show that individuals who experienced greater exposure to the WTCD have more psychological problems than those who had less exposure 1 year after the attacks. Exposure did not seem to have such severe consequences for physical well-being. Thus, our study supports the continuation of mental health services to survivors of a community disaster well beyond the first year post disaster.

Age and Distress in the Czech Republic

The relation between age and distress was examined with four-wave panel data from the Czech Republic. Age was positively associated with Czech men’s 1999 depression (the older panel members compared with the middle-aged members) and negatively with women’s problem behavior prior to controls. Age was also associated with change in men’s depression between 1994 and 1999, but not change in women’s problem behavior. The additions of life-course variables, economic experiences, and health and social-psychological resources helped explain the relation between age and change in men’s depression, and this was particularly true for economic experiences and personal resources. These same variables were also related to change in men’s problem behavior and women’s depression. Men’s problem behavior and women’s depression appeared to be distress symptoms but simply not related to age.

Determinants of self rated health for Canadians with chronic disease and disability.

OBJECTIVE: To identify the factors associated with self rated health of people with and without chronic health conditions or long term disability. SETTING: Canadian household population. DESIGN: Analysis of 1994/95...

Refining the association between education and health: The effects of quantity, credential, and selectivity

We refine the established association between education and health by distinguishing three aspects of a person's education (quantity, credential, and selectivity) and by examining the mechanisms through which they may correlate with health. Data are from the 1995 Aging, Status, and the Sense of Control Survey, a representative U.S. national telephone survey of 2,593 respondents aged 18 to 95, with an oversample of elderly. Results show that physical functioning and perceived health increase significantly with years of formal education and with college selectivity for those with a bachelor's or higher degree, adjusting for age, sex, race, marital status, and parental education. The credential of a college degree has no net association with physical functioning and perceived health beyond the amount attributable to the additional years of schooling. Of the three aspects of education, years of schooling has the largest effect. Most of that association appears attributable to its correlation with work and economic conditions, social psychological resources, and health lifestyle. A large portion of the net association of college selectivity with physical functioning and perceived health appears attributable to health lifestyle.

Psychological distress and well-being among traumatized Palestinian women during the intifada

Little is known about the ways in which Palestinian women who were subjected to political violence during the intifada coped with stress. This study investigated the extent to which differences in the presence of trauma, political and normative stressors, family resources, family coping, and family hardiness could account for variation in women psychological distress and well-being. Results indicated that normative stressors were more predictive of psychological distress and well-being than was the presence of trauma or political stressors. However, political stressors and normative stressors had albeit different effects on the mental health status of both traumatized and non-traumatized women. While the social-psychological resources of women were found to be negatively related to psychological distress and well-being, the sociodemographic resources had different patterns of relations. Also, family hardiness was evidenced to have an influence on perceived psychological distress among traumatized and non-traumatized women, whereas effective coping and supportive resources may directly affect functioning among traumatized women only. The clinical and policy implications of these conclusions were discussed.

Resilience and Severe Burns

To define resilience and its components for individuals with severe burns, the authors integrated findings of a general literature review with opinions offered by 39 burn survivors through individual interviews. Results indicate that core factors influencing resiliency include social support (cultural influences and community, school, personal, and familial support,), cognitive skills (intelligence, coping style, personal control, and assignment of meaning), and psychological resources. Counseling strategies to strengthen resilience are suggested.

The Links Between Education and Health

University of Illinois, Urbana The positive association between education and health is well established, but explanations for this association are not. Our explanations fall into three categories: (1) work and economic conditions, (2) social-psychological resources, and (3) health lifestyle. We replicate analyses with two samples, cross-sectionally and over time, using two health measures (self-reported health and physical functioning). The first data set comes from a national probability sample of U.S. households in which respondents were interviewed by telephone in 1990 (2,031 respondents, ages 18 to 90). The second data set comes from a national probability sample of U.S. households in which respondents ages 20 to 64 were interviewed by telephone first in 1979 (3,025 respondents), and then again in 1980 (2,436 respondents). Results demonstrate a positive association between education and health and help explain why the association exists. (1) Compared to the poorly educated, well educated respondents are less likely to be unemployed, are more likely to work full-time, to have fulfilling, subjectively rewarding jobs, high incomes, and low economic hardship. Full-time work, fulfilling work, high income, and low economic hardship in turn significantly improve health in all analyses. (2) The well educated report a greater sense of control over their lives and their health, and they have higher levels of social support. The sense of control, and to a lesser extent support, are associated with good health. (3) The well educated are less likely to smoke, are more likely to exercise, to get health check-ups, and to drink moderately, all of which, except check-ups, are associated with good health. We conclude that high educational attainment improves health directly, and it improves health indirectly through work and economic conditions, social-psychological resources, and health lifestyle. he positive association between education and health is well established, but explanations for this association are not. Well educated people experience better health than the poorly educated, as indicated by high levels of self-reported health and physical functioning and low levels of morbidity, mortality, and disability. In contrast, low educational attainment is associated with high rates of infectious disease, many chronic noninfectious diseases, self-reported poor health, shorter survival when sick, and shorter life expectancy (Feldman, Makuc, Kleinman, and Cornoni-Huntley 1989; Guralnik, Land, Fillenbaum, and Branch 1993; Gutzwiller, LaVecchia, Levi, Negri, and Wietlisbach 1989; Kaplan, Haan, and Syme 1987; Kitagawa and Hauser 1973; Liu, Cedres, and Stamler 1982; Morris 1990; Pappas, Queen,

Life Stress and Health: Stressors and Resources

In the life stress process social, psychological, and physiological environments simultaneously impinge on well-being. In this paper we focus on physical health as it is affected by two environmental elements: stress(or)es and resources. Data from a three-wave panel survey of a representative upstate New York community are examined by lagged causal relationships among these variables. The results show that (1) prior physiological conditions contribute directly to current physical symptoms, (2) stress and resource components of the psychological environment directly affect current physical symptoms, (3) social resources buffer both social stressors and psychological stress, whereas psychological resources buffer only psychological stress, and (4) psychological stress mediates the effects of prior social stressors and psychological resources. Clearly, stress is a complex process in which the three interacting environments affect well-being. Importantly, social resources play a buffering role relative to social and psychological stresses for physical well-being.

Social-psychological adjustment to multiple sclerosis. A longitudinal study.

This study employs a longitudinal design to analyze the adjustment process of 103 people diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and in the middle and later stages of their illness careers. The mean age of the sample at Time 2 is 52 years, and mean duration since diagnosis is 17 years. A highly reliable self concept measure is the indicator of adjustment and changes in adjustment from T1 (1974) to T2 (1981). Four sets of variables are analyzed in their relationship to adjustment: (1) socio-demographic; (2) disease-related; (3) medical; and (4) social-psychological. Females are more likely than males to show positive adjustment (improving self concepts). Hours of employment and living arrangement are also related to the adjustment process. The vast majority of respondents show only slight decline in mobility, but among the disease related variables, number of episodes (exacerbations) in past seven years is the strongest predictor of changes in adjustment. Nearly half the respondents seek medical attention for their M.S. once a year or less, and the choice of health care professional is related to changes in the course of the disease. Subjects with an internal locus of control have more positive adjustment scores. Those who say they cope through acceptance of the disease show improvements in self concept while those reporting religion or family as major coping strategies have decreasing self concepts. Results indicate that the majority make satisfactory adjustment as indicated by maintenance of positive self concepts over the 7 year period, although the disease is chronic and progressive. For patients in the middle and later stages of illness careers, the data suggest comprehensive rehabilitation efforts that enhance autonomy and develop the social-psychological resources of the lifestyle.