Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

LIVE: Thursday 27th June 2024, 18:00-19:30 (CEST)
Join our expert panel to discover why you need to understand the drivers of non-adherence in your patients, and how you can optimize medication adherence in your clinics to drastically improve patient outcomes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 8/2014

01-08-2014 | Original Paper

Stress, social relationships and health outcomes in low-income Francistown, Botswana

Author: Tirelo Modie-Moroka

Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology | Issue 8/2014

Login to get access

Abstract

Introduction

Studies assessing the impact of stress on health outcomes are lacking in developing countries such as Botswana, in Southern Africa. This study examines the relationships between individual life stressors (stressful life events and chronic life stressors), social relationships and quality of life (QoL), for low-income urban residents in Francistown, Botswana. Although there are many studies of social support and quality of life, no studies have so far explored the relationship among the three variables. Selected concepts from stress theory are used as a conceptual framework.

Materials and methods

Using a cross-sectional quantitative design (both descriptive and explanatory), this study examined the associations among life stress (stressful life events and chronic life stressors), social relationships, and four indicators of health and QoL among a sample of 388 low-income urban dwellers in Francistown, Botswana. Using multiple regression models, the results of this study show that the availability of social relationships was associated with better physical and psychological health and level of independence. Controlling for the physical domain of QoL, social relationships buffered the effects of chronic life stressors on QoL and level of independence.

Conclusions

Social relationships buffer the effects of stressful life events on quality, not on psychological well-being. Social relationships had no moderating effect on physical health, level of independence and on quality of life.
Literature
1.
Aday LA (1996) Designing and conducting health surveys. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco
2.
Bassett MT, Mhloyi M (1991) Women and AIDS in Zimbabwe: the making of an epidemic. Int J Health Serv 21(1):143–156PubMedCrossRef
3.
Botswana Central Statistics Office (CSO). 2008. Botswana AIDS Impact Survey III (BAIS III). Preliminary Results, Stats Brief, No. 2009/8, May 2009. Gaborone, Botswana
4.
National AIDS Coordinating Agency [NACA] (2010) National Strategic Framework for HIV and AIDS 2011–2016 (NSF). National AIDS Coordinating Agency, Gaborone
5.
Billings AG, Moos RH (1981) The role of coping responses and social resources in attenuating the impact of stressful life events. J Behav Med 4:139–157PubMedCrossRef
6.
Berkman LF, Kawachi I (2000) Social epidemiology. Oxford University Press, New York
7.
Blane D, Brunner E, Wilkinson R (eds) (1996) Health and social organization. Routledge, London
8.
Botswana Central Statistics Office (2011) National Population Census, Central Statistics Office. Gaborone, Botswana
9.
Cohen S, Mermelstein R, Kamarck T, Hoberman H (1985) Measuring the functional components of social support. In: Sarason I, Sarason B (eds) Social support theory, research, and applications. Martinus Nijjhof, The Hague, pp 73–94CrossRef
10.
Cohen S, Wills TA (1985) Stress, social support, and the buffering hypothesis. Psychol Bull 98:310–357PubMedCrossRef
11.
Dunbar M, Ford G, Hunt K (1998) Why is the receipt of social support associated with increased psychological distress? An examination of three hypotheses. Psychol Health 13:527–544CrossRef
12.
Fernández-Ballesteros R (2002) Social support and quality of life among older people in Spain. J Soc Issues 58:645–659CrossRef
13.
Finch JF, Okun MA, Pool GJ, Ruehlman LS (1999) A Comparison of the influence of conflictual and supportive social interactions on psychological distress. J Pers 76:581–621CrossRef
14.
Hope KR Sr, Edge W (1996) Growth with uneven development: urban–rural socio-economic disparities in Botswana. Geoforum 27(1):53–62CrossRef
15.
House J, Landis K, Umberson D (1988) Social relationships and health. Science 24:540–545CrossRef
16.
Joseph S, Dagleish T, Thrasher S, Yule W (1995) Crisis support and emotional reactions following trauma. Crisis Interv 1:203–208
17.
Jou YH, Fukada H (2002) Stress, health, and reciprocity and sufficiency of social support: the case of university students in Japan. J Soc Psychol 142(3):353–370PubMedCrossRef
18.
Lazarus RS, Folkman S (1984) Stress, appraisal, and coping. Springer Publication Company, New York
19.
20.
21.
Thoits P (2011) Mechanisms linking social ties and support to physical and mental health. J Health Soc Behav 52:145–161PubMedCrossRef
22.
Mosha AC (1998) The impact of urbanization on society, economy and environment of Botswana. In: Edge W, Lekorwe (eds) Botswana: politics and society. J.L. van Schaik, South Africa, pp 440–460
23.
Newsom JT, Mahan TL, Rook KS, Krause N (2008) Stable negative social exchanges and health. Health Psychol 27:78–86PubMedCrossRef
24.
Selye H (1956) The stress of life. McGraw-Hill, New York
25.
Turner RJ, Avison WA (1992) Sources of attenuation in the stress-distress relationship: an evaluation of modest innovations in the application of event checklists. In: Greenley J, Leaf P (eds) Research in community and mental health. JAI Press, Greenwich, pp 265–300
26.
Uchino BN, Bowen K, Carlisle M, Birmingham W (2012) What are the psychological pathways linking social support to health outcomes? A visit with the “ghosts” of research past, present, and future. Soc Sci Med 74:949–957PubMedCentralPubMedCrossRef
27.
Wheaton B (1994) Sampling the Stress Universe. In: Avison W, 1 Gotlib (eds) Stress and mental health: contemporary issues and prospects for the future. Plenum, New York, pp 77–114CrossRef
28.
WHOQOL Group (1995) Facet definitions and questions., Field Trial WHOQOL-100WHO (MNH/PSF/95.1.B), Geneva
29.
Cohen S, Gottlieb B, Underwood L (2000) Social relationships and health. In: Cohen S, Underwood L, Gottlieb B (eds) Measuring and intervening in social support. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 3–25
30.
Jou YH, Fukada H (2002) Stress, health, and reciprocity and sufficiency of social support: The case of university students in Japan. J Soc Psychol 142:353–370PubMedCrossRef
Metadata
Title
Stress, social relationships and health outcomes in low-income Francistown, Botswana
Author
Tirelo Modie-Moroka
Publication date
01-08-2014
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology / Issue 8/2014
Print ISSN: 0933-7954
Electronic ISSN: 1433-9285
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-013-0806-8

Other articles of this Issue 8/2014

Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 8/2014 Go to the issue

Original Paper

Parental bonding and suicidality in pregnant teenagers: a population-based study in southern Brazil

Original Paper

Correlates of depressive symptoms in urban middle-aged and elderly Lithuanians

Original Paper

Depression among physicians working in public healthcare in Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Original Paper

The co-occurrence of PTSD and dissociation: differentiating severe PTSD from dissociative-PTSD

Original Paper

Relationship between depressive symptoms and quality of life in Nigerian patients with schizophrenia

Original Paper

Size of the social network versus quality of social support: which is more protective against PTSD?