The DOI matches its Crossref record; 96 of the 96 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The buffer theory of social support – a review of the literature
Abstract
Synopsis: The buffer theory postulates that social support moderates the power of psychosocial adversity to precipitate episodes of illness. In this paper, we review the theory as applied to minor affective disturbances. Research in this area suffers because of the many disparate conceptualizations of social support and the resulting difficulty of deciding on the content of measures. Moreover, the meaning of the term buffering is itself unclear. These problems have not, however, inhibited research, and many cross-sectional and longitudinal studies have now been carried out. Our review leads to the conclusion that evidence for a buffering role of social support is inconsistent, reflecting methodological differences between studies but probably also indicating that buffering effects are not of dramatic proportions. Moreover, it is possible that the observed relationships are the result of spurious association or contamination of measures.
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Cites
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Cited by
The role of social support in the process of work stress: a meta-analysis
Viswesvaran, C., Sanchez, J. I., & Fisher, J. (1999) · Journal of Vocational Behavior · doi:10.1006/jvbe.1998.1661 · Cited by 1,331
Gariepy, G., Nitka, D., & Schmitz, N. (2010) · International Journal of Obesity · doi:10.1038/ijo.2009.252 · Cited by 753
Social Support and the Outcome of Major Depression
George, L. K., Blazer, D. G., Hughes, D. C., & Fowler, N. (1989) · British Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1192/bjp.154.4.478 · Cited by 732
The Life Stress Paradigm and Psychological Distress
Ensel, W. M., & Lin, N. (1991) · Journal of Health and Social Behavior · doi:10.2307/2137101 · Cited by 522
Nabi, R. L., Prestin, A., & So, J. (2013) · Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking · doi:10.1089/cyber.2012.0521 · Cited by 510
Metadata
- Authors
- Alloway, R., & Bebbington, P.
- Venue
- Psychological Medicine
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 1987-02
- Volume
- 17
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 91-108
- ISSN
- 0033-2917 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-8978
- OpenAlex
- W2058177122
- Cited by
- 288
- References
- 96
- FWCI
- 22.48
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.
