Abstract
Considerable controversy has centered on the role of social support in the stress process. Some theorists (Cassel, 1976; Cobb, 1976; Kaplan, Cassel, & Gore, 1977) have argued that support acts only as a resistance factor; that is, support reduces, or buffers, the adverse psychological impacts of exposure to negative life events and/or chronic difficulties, but support has no direct effects upon psychological symptoms when stressful circumstances are absent. Several studies confirm this buffering-only view of social support influences (sec Turner, 1983, for a review). Others (Thoits, 1982a, 1983c) have argued that lack of social support and changes in support over time are stressors in themselves, and as such ought to have direct influences upon psychological symptomatology, whether or not other stressful circumstances occur. A number of studies now confirm this main-effect view of social support influences (e.g., Andrews, Tennant, Hewson, & Vaillant, 1978; Aneshensel & Frerichs, 1982; Lin, Ensel, Simeone, & Kuo, 1979; Thoits, 1983b; Turner, 1981; Williams, Ware, & Donald, 1981). These studies report an inverse association between measures of support and indicators of psychological disturbance, and no stress-buffering effects at all.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abramson, L., Seligman, E. P., & Teasdale, J. D. (1978). Learned helplessness in humans: Critique and reformulation. Journal of Abnormal Psychology. 87. 49–74.
American Psychiatric Association. (1980). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ( Third Edition ). Washington, D.C.: APA.
Andrews, G., Tennant, C., Hewson, D. M., & Vaillant, G.E. (1978). Life event stress, social support, coping style, and risk of psychological impairment. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. 166. 307–316.
Aneshensel, C. S., & Frerichs, R. R. (1982). Stress, support, and depression: A longitudinal causal model. Journal of Community Psychology. 10. 363–376.
Bandura, A. (1977). Social Learning Theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Bart, P. (1974). The sociology of depression. In P. Roman & H. Trice (Eds.), Explorations in psychiatric sociology. New York: Science House, 1974.
Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss. Vol. 1., Attachment. London: Hogarth Press.
Bowlby, J. (1973). Attachment and loss. Vol. 2. Separation: Anxiety and anger. London: Hogarth Press.
Brown, G. W. A three-factor causal model of depression. (1979). In J. E. Barrett (Ed.), Stress and mental disorder. New York: Raven Press.
Brown, G. V., & Harris, T. (1978). The social origins of depression. New York: Free Press.
Caplan, G. (1974). Support systems and community mental health. New York: Behavioral Publications.
Cassel, J. (1976). The contribution of the social environment to host-resistance. American Journal of Epidemiology. 104. 107–122.
Coates, D., & Wortman, C. B. (1980). Depression maintenance and interpersonal control. In A. Baum & J. Singer (Eds.), Advances in environmental psychology: Applications of personal control. Vol II. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum.
Cobb, S. (1976). Social support as a moderator of life stress. Psychosomatic Medicine. 38. 300–314.
Cohen, S., & McKay, G. (1983). Social support, stress, and the buffering hypothesis: A theoretical analysis. In A. Baum, J. E. Singer, & S. E. Taylor (Eds.), Handbook of, psychology and health. Vol. 4. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Cooley, C. H. (1902). Human nature the social order. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
Dean, A., & Ensel, W. N. (1982). Modelling social support, life events, competence, and depression in the context of age and sex. Journal of Community Psychology. 10. 392–408.
Dean, A., amp; Lin, N. (1977). The stress-buffering role of social support: Problems and prospects for systematic investigation. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. 165. 403–417.
Durkheim, E. (1951). Suicide. New York: Free Press.
Eaton, W. W. (1978). Life events, social supports, and psychiatric symptoms: A re-analysis of the New Haven data. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 19, 230–234.
Erikson, E. H. (1963). Childhood and Society. New York: Norton.
Erikson, E. H. (1968). Identity: Youth and crisis. New York: Norton.
Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations. 7. 117–140.
Frankl, V. (1959). Man’s search for meaning, Boston: Beacon Press.
Franks, D. D., & Marolla, J. (1976). Efficacious action and social approval as interacting dimensions of self-esteem: A tentative formulation through construct validation. Sociometry. 39. 324–341.
Gecas, V. (1979). Beyond the “looking-glass self”: Toward an efficacy-based model of self-esteem. Paper presented at the annual meetings of the American Sociological Association.
Gore, S. (1978). The effects of social support in moderating the health consequences of unemployment. Journal of Health and Social Behavior. 19, 157–165.
Heller, K. (1979). The effects of social support: Prevention and treatment implications. In A. P. Goldstein & F. H. Kanfer (Eds.), Maximizing treatment gains: Transfer enhancement in psychotherapy. New York: Academic Press.
Henderson, S., Byrne, D. G., & Duncan-Jones, P. (1981). Neurosis and the social environment. New York: Academic Press.
Henderson, S., Byrne, D. C., Duncan-Jones, P., Scott, R., & Adcock, S. (1980). Social relationships, adversity, and neurosis: A study of associations in a general population sample. British Journal of Psychiatry. 136. 574–583.
Holmes, T. H., & Rahe, R. H. (1967). The social readjustment rating scale. Journal of Psychosomatic Research. 11. 213–218.
House, J. S. (1981). Work stress and social support. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Husainai, B. A., Newbrough, J. R., Neff, J. A., & Moore, M. C. (1982). The stress-buffering role of social support and personal competence among the rural married. Journal of Community Psychology. 10. 409–426.
James, W. (1950). The principles of psychology. Vol. 2. New York: Dover, (original work published, 1890 ).
Kaplan, B. H., Cassel, J. C., & Gore, S. (1977). Social support and health. Medical Care. 15. (Supplement), 47–58.
Kaplan, B. H. (1980). Deviant behavior in defense of self. New York: Academic Press.
Kessler, R. C., & Essex, M. (1982). Marital status and depression: The importance of coping resources. Social Forces. 61, 484–507.
Langner, T. S. (1962). A twenty-two item screening score of psychiatric symptoms indicating impairment. Journal of Health and Human Behavior. 3. 269–276.
Lazarus, R. S., & Launier, R. (1978). Stress-related transactions between person and environment. In L. A. Pervin & M. Lewis (Eds.), Perspectives in interactional psychology. New York: Plenum.
Lin, N., Ensel, W. M., Simeone, R. S., & Kuo, W. (1979). Social support, stressful life events, and illness: A model and empirical test. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 20. 108–119.
Link, B., & Dohrenwend, B. P. (1980). Formulation of hypotheses about the true prevalence of demoralization in the United States. In B. P. Dohrenwend, B. S. Dohrenwend, M. S. Gould, B. Link, R. Neugebauer, & R. Wunsch-Hitzig (Eds.), Mental illness in the United States: Epidemiological estimates. New York: Praeger.
Lowenthal, M. P., & Haven C. (1968). Interaction and adaptation: Intimacy as a critical variable. American Sociological Review, 33, 20–30.
Mead, G. H. (1934). Mind, self, and society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Mechanic, D. (1962). Students under stress. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
Mueller, D. P. (1980). Social networks: A promising direction for research on the relationship of the social environment to psychiatric disorder. Social Science and Medicine. 14A. 147–161.
Pearlin, L. I. (1983). Interpersonal role strain as a precursor of psychological distress and associated conditions: An evaluation and synthesis of the literature. In H. B. Kaplan (Ed.), Psychosocial stress: Trends in theory and research. New York: Academic Press.
Pearlin, L. I., Liebennan, M. A., Menaghan, E. G., & Mullan, J. T. (1981). The stress process. Journal of Health and Social Behavior. 22. 337–356.
Pugliesi, K. L. (1981). The role of emotional behavior in the labelling of mental illness. Unpublished Master of Arts Thesis, Department of Sociology, Washington State University.
Radloff, L. S. (1977). The CES-D scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement. 1, 385–401.
Sarbin, T. R. (1968). Notes on the transformation of social identity. In L. M. Roberts, N. S. Creenfield, and M. H. Miller (Eds.), Comprehensive mental health: The challenge of evaluation. Madison: University of Wiscons in Press.
Shott, S. (1979). Emotion and social life: A symbolic interactionist analysis. American Journal of Sociology. 84, 1317–1334.
Sieber, S. D. (1974). Toward a theory of role accumulation. American Sociological Review, 39, 567–578.
Stotland, E., Mathews, K. E., Sherman, S. E., Hansson, R. O., and Richardson, B. Z. (1978). Empathy, fantasy, and helping. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Stryker, S. (1980). Symbolic interactionism: A social structural version. Palo Alto, CA: Benjamin/Cummings.
Thoits, P. A. (1982a). Conceptual, methodological, and theoretical problems in studying social support as a buffer against life stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior. 23. 145–159.
Thoits, P. A. (1982b). Life stress, social support, and psychological vulnerability: Epidemiological considerations. Journal of Community Psychology. 10. 341–362.
Thoits, P. A. (1983a). Dimensions of life events that influence psychological distress: An evaluation and synthesis of the literature. In H. B. Kaplan (Ed.), Psychosocial stress: Trends in theory and research. New York: Academic Press.
Thoits, P. A. (1983b). Explaining distributions of psychological vulnerability: Lack of social support in the face of life stress. Social Forces, (forthcoming).
Thoits, P. A. (1983c). Main and interactive effects of social support: Response to LaRocca. Journal of Health and Social Behavior. 24. 92–95.
Thoits, P. A. (1983d). Multiple identities and psychological well-being: A reformulation and test of the social isolation hypothesis. American Sociological Review. 48. 174–187.
Thoits, P. A. (I983e). Reconceptua1izing mental illness: Deviations in feeling and expression. Paper presented at the annual meetings of the American Sociological Association.
Turner, R. J. (1981). Social support as a contingency in psychological well-being. Journal of Health and Social Behavior. 22. 357–367.
Turner, R. J. (1983). Direct, indirect, and moderating effects of social support upon psychological distress and associated conditions. In H. B. Kaplan (Ed.), Psychosocial stress: Trends in theory and research. New York: Academic Press.
Webster, M., Jr., & Sobieszek, B. (1974). Sources of self-evaluation. New York; John Wiley and Sons.
Wellman, B. (1981). Applying network analysis to the study of support. In B. H. Gottlieb (Ed.), Social networks and special support. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
White, R. W. (1959). Motivation reconsidered: The concept of competence. Psychological Review. 66. 297–333.
Williams, A. W., Ware, J. E., Jr., & Donald, C. A. (1981). A model of cental health, life events, and social supports applicable to general populations. Journal of Health and Social Behavior. 22. 324–336.
World Health Organization. (1977). Manual of the International Statistical Classification and Cause of Death. 9th revision, Vol. 1. Geneva: WHO.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1985 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Thoits, P.A. (1985). Social Support and Psychological Well-Being: Theoretical Possibilities. In: Sarason, I.G., Sarason, B.R. (eds) Social Support: Theory, Research and Applications. NATO ASI Series, vol 24. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-5115-0_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-5115-0_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-8761-2
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-5115-0
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive