Chapter 7 Continued Flashcards
What are the six main types of social support?
- Emotional/esteem support
- Informational support
- Tangible/instrumental support
- Companionship
- Appraisal
- Invisible
Emotional/esteem support
Conveying caring, concern, value, empathy.
Informational support
The provision of information to a person going through stress by friends, family, and other people in the individual’s social network; believed to help reduce the distressing and health-compromising effects of stress.
Tangible/instrumental support
Providing concrete or physical assistance.
Companionship
Spending time with the person.
Appraisal
Help identify stressors and coping options.
Invisible
Support that the person is unaware of.
Explicit social support
Direct and specific target stressor.
Implicit social support
- No direct and specific targeting
- Knowing one has support if needed
What are some of the predictors of amount of social support?
- Gender (female have more SS than males)
- Age (SS decreases into old age)
- Location (people who live in towns have more SS than those living in big cities)
- Where you’re born (native-born individuals have more SS than immigrants)
- Social network qualities (size, intimacy)
- Availability
- Attachment (individuals with secure attachment have more SS than individuals with anxious ambivalent or anxious avoidant attachment)
- Personality (personality factors underly whether a person perceives that they have social support. Social support is merely a product of personality, not a factor in its own right).
What are the physical health benefits of social support?
- Decreased stress response (lower blood pressure and lower cortisol level)
- Decreased CV problems
- Stronger immune response
- Less life-threatening illness
- Faster recovery from surgery and serious illness
- Diminished pain
- Better sleep
- Decreased pregnancy and childbirth problems
What are the mental health benefits of social support?
- Reduced stress
- Decreased age-related cognitive decline
- Increased self-esteem
- Decreased marital negativity
- Decreased rumination on stressors
- Enhanced adjustment to chronic disease
- Better adherence to health and safety habits
What are the potential negatives of social support?
- Increased reactivity (evaluation apprehension; defensiveness, hostility)
- Inappropriate support (matching hypothesis)
- Misguided support (bad example, controlling)
- Unsupportive spouse
- Growing Canadian isolation
- Digital communication
- Stress on the supporter (if supporter shares stressor)
Matching hypothesis
The hypothesis that social support is helpful to an individual to the extent that the kind of support offered satisfies the individual’s specific needs.
What are the impacts on a support-giver?
- Beneficial, unless supporter is impacted by the same stressor
- Beneficial to mood if positive interpersonal situation; detrimental if negative
- Reduces stress response in the supporter
- Elderly who provide support live longer
Direct effects hypothesis
SS is beneficial during stress of any level.
Buffering hypothesis
SS mostly protects against impacts of high stress.
Stress prevention model
SS provides resources to avoid/minimize stressors.
What is the role of oxytocin in social support?
- “Social support hormone” (released during human-interactions (friendly))
- Encourages bonding (romantic love and sex; child-bearing, child-care, and breast-feeding; friendship and hugging)
- Health impacts (lower heart rate; lower blood pressure)
Faunal support
- Especially pets
- Especially dogs
- Therapy animals
Human-animal interaction (HAI) (Beetz et al.)
- Reduced blood pressure
- Reduced cortisol
- Improved cardiovascular health
- Improved immune function
- Improved mood (less depression;
less aggression) - Reduced stress impacts
Floral support
- Boosts mood
- Sense of responsibility
- “Green power” benefits (sensory experience; microbial contact)
