Stress, Coping, and Social Support Processes: Where Are We? What Next?

“…of new methods of measuring stress have been developed and refined (e.g., Bolger et al. 1989a; Brown and Harris 1978, 1989; Dohrenwend et al. 1993; Pearlin and Schooler 1978; Wheaton 1991; Zautra, Guarnaccia, and Dohrenwend 1986), and stress theory has been elaborated to incorporate factors which…”

“…use problem-focused coping strategies or to have an active coping style (Menaghan 1982, 1983; Menaghan and Merves 1984; Pearlin and Schooler 1978; Pearlin et al. 1981; Ross and Mirowsky 1989), most of these studies also show that problem-focused coping either has no effects on or in some cases…”

“Direct and indirect positive effects of social support on health are already established (Lin and Ensel, 1989; Pearlin, 1989; Ensel and Lin, 1991; Thoits, 1995).”

“First, physical disability represents 1976; Thoits, 1995; Turner & Roszell, 1994; Turner & Lloyd, 1999).”

“Lazarus and Folkman (1984) defined social resources as what an individual “draws on in order to cope” and Thoits (1986, 1995) described social resources as “a social ‘fund’”

“Research has documented that individuals’ social networks influence their ability to cope with illness and the types of medical services they use (House, Landis, & Umberson, 1988; Pescosolido, 1992; Pescosolido, 1996; Thoits, 1982, 1995, 2010).”

“Research has consistently shown that individuals who have higher quality social relationships have better physical and mental health (Cohen, 1988, 2004; Cohen, Doyle, Skoner, Rabin, & Gwaltney, 1997; House, Landis, & Umberson, 1988; Thoits, 1995).”

“Adolescents with higher self-esteem are more likely to adopt the positive coping style in general, which corroborates with previous studies [28, 29, 56].”

“In the sociological study of stress, a number of scholars have referenced similar dynamics in discussions of coping (Thoits, 1995; Wheaton, 1985), especially with respect to social support-based resources (Sloan, 2012).”

“People with good resources are more likely to use active coping, people without them adopt more passive or avoidant emotion-focused coping strategies (Thoits, 1995).”

“Several important covariates, such as undesirable life events (acute stressors) and a sense of personal control or mastery and self-esteem (psychological and coping resources), known to be important determinants of social support (Thoits, 1995), are not included in this study.”

“As such, a robust body of literature documents the inverse relationship between social support and psychological distress (Bao et al. 2000; Bovier et al. 2004; Cummings et al. 2003; Thoits 1995; Wight et al. 2006).”

“If social support were associated with improved task performance, it would be important to identify potential mechanisms underpinning this relationship (Cohen, 1988; Cohen, Gottlieb, & Underwood, 2000; Lakey & Cohen, 2000; Saltzman & Holahan, 2002; Schwarzer & Leppin, 1991; Thoits, 1995).”

“The most prominent example of social resources is social support (i.e., assistance provided by close members of an employee’s social network, such as family members, friends, and supervisors; Thoits, 1995).”

“Other studies explain that those individuals with plenty of social support can activate the resources of their social networks to help direct their circumstances, thus increasing their perceived control (see Krause and Keith, 1989; Mirowsky and Ross, 1989; or Thoits, 1995 for an overview).”

“This dimension of social support was found to play an important role in shaping health and well being especially among the aged [21,22].”

“Many scholars note surges of social support from network members following the onset of health problems (Antonucci &Akiyama, 1987; Kahn &Antonucci, 1981; Thoits, 1995).”

“Several scholars have argued that greater research attention should be given to the relationship between stressors and physical health outcomes, including mortality (Horwitz 2002; Horwitz, White, and Howell-White 1996; Thoits 1995).”

“DISCUSSION Previous research (3,4,22) has indicated that the family emotional stressors that often accompany marital discord may explain the increase in risk for substance use frequently observed among adolescents of divorced parents.”

“This form of stress occurs as a result of “acute changes which require major behavioral readjustments within a relatively short period of time (e.g. birth of first child; divorce)” (Thoits, 1995).”

“Given the critical role of social support in coping with stress (Thoits, 1995), it is clear that custodial grandparents are at risk for high levels of stress and the problems that accompany it.”

“One of many reported predecessors of children's internalizing and externalizing behavior problems is stress ( Thoits, 1995 ).”

“Analyses are focussed on perceived emotional support as one of the most important dimensions of social support [6].”

“that intensify or diminish these effects (House & Mortimer, 1990; Thoits, 1995).”

“Social support is considered as a coping resource, and it refers to functions performed for individuals by others like family members, friends and co-workers who provide instrumental, informational, and/ or emotional assistance (House and Kahn, 1985; Thoits, 1995).”

“This finding is consistent with previous studies showing that social networks of schizophrenic patients, as well as their capacity to seek and use adaptive resources of social support, are limited (Aldwin & Revenson, 1987; Cutting & Docherty, 2000; Ponizovsky, Grinshpoon, Sasson, & Levav, 2004; Thoits, 1995).”

“This ‘pile up’ effect increases the risk of psychological distress and predicts recurrences of psychiatric disorders, mood disorders, post-traumatic stress disorders, and alcohol and substance abuse (Thoits 1995, 2010; Mirowsky & Ross 2003).”

“This result is contradictory to past research that reveals benefi cial effects of social support on well-being (Thoits, 1995) but consistent with much of the research that examines peer support and adolescent behavioral outcomes (Wills et al., 2004).”

“Finally, although few studies have comprehensively addressed the social distribution of support (House et al., 1998; Thoits, 1995; Turner &d Marino, 1994), studies have found that that sociodemographic characteristics such as race/ethnicity and sex can moderate this relationship (connell, Fisher, &…”

“This finding is consistent with prior research, which indicates the positive role social support plays in managing chronic diseases such as diabetes (Coffman, 2008; Tang et al., 2008; Thoits, 1995, 2011).”

“According to a review of the literature [15], both the social network and the perceived social support have a direct and positive effect on the physical and mental health of individuals, but only perceived social support confers a ‘‘buffer’’ effect.”

“Typically, research has maintained that a positive correlation exists between social support and mental health [15].”

“A large body of work demonstrates that individuals respond to stressors and stress differently, depending on cognitive and coping factors (Folkman, 2008; Folkman and Moskowitz, 2004; Lazarus, 1993; Lazarus and Folkman, 1984) such as perceived control and social support (Pearlin et al., 1981; Thoits, 1995).”

“Self-esteem is considered a coping resource and has been found to reduce depressive and other psychological symptoms and buffer against stress (Thoits, 1995).”

“Positive social support can be helpful in managing the challenges of allergy and supportive social networks have been consistently shown to lessen the effects of stress (Thoits, 1995).”

“Indeed, perceived discrimination has a well-documented relationship with mental and physical health (Pascoe and Richman 2009), and much research documents the health consequences of perceived social support independent of support actually received (Jay and Marino 1994; Thoits 1995, 2011).”

“Researchers have documented the negative impact of responding ineffectively to stressors on both physical and mental health (Thoits, 1995) and have indicated that the ability to cope with stressors may become increasingly important as one ages (Hamarat et al.”

“Had we assessed individual level outcomes such as depression instead, the results and their interpretation might have been different, as going outside the LDDR may help individuals cope with their emotional distress (Thoits, 1995).”

“…solidarity, and mutual recognition involved in social interaction, ignoring essential and equally constitutive aspects of interpersonal relations, such as the question of power and the pursuit of interests that are constitutive of different types of conflicts (Tardy, 1985; Thoits, 1995).”

“Some studies found that social support benefited coping with social stress and relieving social pain (44, 45), and many others also demonstrated that higher social support can improve the feeling of perceiving control (46, 47).”

“, 2005), as well as higher rates of general and cause-specific mortality (Berkman & Syme, 1979; Holt-Lunstad, Smith, & Layton, 2010; Thoits, 1995; Yang et al., 2013).”

“Social support is a kind of communication behavior and frequently used in the field of health communication (Thoits, 1995), especially plays an essential role in mental and physical health (Segrin & Passalacqua, 2010).”

“Social statuses additionally influence one’s availability of coping resources, which include the perceived strength of social bonds and personal attributes such as self-esteem and mastery (Thoits, 1995; Turner & Turner, 2004).”

“Emotional support is characterized by the amount of blove and caring, sympathy and understanding, and/or esteem or value available from othersQ [13], whereas instrumental support refers to bhelp, aid, or assistance with tangible needs such as getting groceries, getting to appointments, phoning, cooking, cleaning, or p…”

“…social support may aid a person's stress-management efforts: (1) by building up the person's sense of identity and belonging; (2) by improving his/her self-image; and (3) by enhancing his/her sense of control and mastery over the stressful situation (Thoits, 1995; Schreurs & de Ridder, 1997).”

“Although women perceive more negative consequences for heavy drinking (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2004), have larger social support networks (Thoits, 1995), and use more active coping strategies to deal with stress (Green & Pope, 1999), they are still at risk for heavy drinking as a result of stressful life…”

“Social resources promote efficacious coping behaviors through helping individuals understand and manage negative life experiences and situational demands (Thoits 1995).”

“For instance, some report that psychosocial resources may mediate status (i.e., race, SES, gender) differences in health (Turner et al. 1999; Turner and Marino 1994), while others have demonstrated a stress-buffering effect (Thoits 1995, 2011).”

“The social stress paradigm (Lin & Ensel, 1989; Pearlin et al., 2005; Thoits, 1995) has often been applied to theorize the links between socially induced stressors and their suboptimal health consequences for transnational migrants (Noh & Avison, 1996; Vega & Rumbaut, 1991).”

“E-mail: btc49@ cornell.edu American Journal of Sociology and socioemotional support, social capital, and informal social control, as well as a sense of belonging and self-esteem (e.g., see Umberson 1987; House, Landis, and Umberson 1988; Thoits 1995; Berkman et al. 2000).”

“Social support may play a protective role, buffering youth from the psychological and physical results of exposure to stressors (Ensel and Lin 1991; Lyons et al. 1998; Thoits 1995).”

“However, the mechanism by which social networks exert their influence remains poorly understood (38,40, 41 ).”

“Due to other research that has indicated positive effects of perceived emotional support on health (e.g., see Thoits, 1995 for a review of the effects of various dimensions of social support on health), we expect that perceived emotional support will be associated with a decrease in disability.”

“…social engagement, person-to-person contact, and access to resources and material goods are downstream factors, operating as psychosocial mechanisms ultimately affecting health (House 1981; Kloudahl 1985; Laumann et al. 1989; Rook 1990; Marsden and Friedkin 1994; Landrine et al. 1994; Thoits 1995).”

“Having someone to confide in about personal issues appears to be the “simplest and most powerful measure of social support” and is the most common operationalization of the concept (Thoits, 1995, p. 64).”

“As to the social strains experienced by the adolescent, social capital is often found to buffer against injurious effects of stressful situations (Thoits, 1995).”

“Minority stress models (Meyer, 1995; Meyer, Schwartz, & Frost, 2008; Thoits, 1995) have underscored the detrimental effects of stress stemming from racial group membership and discrimination (e.”