Chronic Stress, Social Support and Psychological Distress. Published as 'The Role of Social Support in Mediating the Psychological Consequences of Economic Stress', Sociology of Health and Illness, 1993 Vol 15 No 1 p86-101

Christopher Whelan

No WP023, Papers from Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI)

Abstract: The idea that social support can act as a buffer against the negative consequences of stress has been a particularly influential one. Most of the relevant research has focused on the impact of life events. In this paper we direct attention to the impact of chronic economic stress on psychological distress and the extent to witch social support acts as a mediator. Social contact is found to be significantly related to psychological distress but its effect operates in a direct manner. Both instrumental and emotional support, however, serve to buffer the effects of extreme life-style deprivation. At low levels of deprivation, those lacking social support are more likely to be distressed but the strongest effects come when deprivation is high. Correspondingly, deprivation has a clear effect even when support is present but is at its most damaging when instrumental and emotional support are absent. While the pattern of interaction means that the effect of one factor is dependent on the other, overall extreme life-style deprivation is the most important factor, followed by emotional support and finally instrumental support.

Pages: 23 pages
Date: 1991-06
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