Social Comparison and Stress Appraisal in Women with Chronic Illness

M. Carmen Terol Cantero, Miguel Bernabé, Maite Martín-Aragón, Carolina Vázquez and Abraham P. Buunk
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M. Carmen Terol Cantero: Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health, University Miguel Hernández, 03202 Elche, Spain
Miguel Bernabé: Department of Social and Organizational Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, National University of Distance Education, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Maite Martín-Aragón: Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health, University Miguel Hernández, 03202 Elche, Spain
Carolina Vázquez: Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health, University Miguel Hernández, 03202 Elche, Spain
Abraham P. Buunk: Honorary Academy Professor Evolutionary Social Psychology, University of Groningen, 9700 Groningen, The Netherlands

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 10, 1-11

Abstract: (1) Background: The present study examined how social comparison orientation, stress appraisal and different social comparison strategies interact in women facing chronic illness. (2) Methods: Assessments were conducted by a trained professional in face-to face semistructured interviews (n = 179 women with chronic illness). Main outcome measures included social comparison scales and a stress appraisal questionnaire. The mediation model, by a bootstrapping procedure, was used to analyze the interaction among variables. (3) Results: Regarding the relationships among variables studied, they were related to each other except for a downward contrast, which allowed us to propose our hypothetical mediation model. Results showed that stress appraisal fully mediates between social comparison orientation and social comparison strategies except for the upward identification strategy. (4) Conclusions: Our results suggest that uncertainty, feelings of threat and low control over one’s illness or, in general, stress appraisal, had an important mediating effects over social comparison processes in patients with chronic illnesses. Therefore, by understanding the stress appraisal process, and the variables that might modify it, we could improve the use of social comparison as a favorable coping strategy.

Keywords: social comparison; stress; women; chronic illness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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