Showing papers in "American Journal of Community Psychology in 1986"

Distinctions between social support concepts, measures, and models

Abstract: Le concept de support social doit etre abandonne au profit de concepts plus pertinents fondes sur les modeles de relations entre stress et detresse

The social support appraisals (SS‐A) scale: Studies of reliability and validity

Abstract: Presentaion d'une echelle d'evaluation subjective du soutien social, de SS-A. Les donnees obtenues sur des echantillons universitaires et communautaires ont permis de demontrer sa validite et sa fiabilite

A prospective study of life events, social support, and psychological symptomatology during the transition from high school to college

Abstract: Life events, perceived social support, and psychological symptoms were studied prospectively among older adolescents during the transition from high school to college. These variables were reciprocally related to one another in patterns which changed over a period of 6 months. The findings are supportive of a transactional model of stress that emphasizes reciprocal, rather than linear, paths of influence. Further, the study highlights the importance of studying stress and social support during life transitions that may constitute periods of greater vulnerability to life events.

Social networks and social competence: exploring the effects of early adolescent friendships.

Abstract: This study explored the relationship between friendship social network variables and social competence indices using a sample of 98 young black lower SES adolescents. Analyses indicated that perceived emotional support received from friends and the number of reciprocated best friends in an adolescents' social network were related positively. Multivariate hierarchical regression analyses indicated that perceived friend emotional support and number of reciprocated best friends contributed independently to school competence, peer competence, and perceived self-competence measures. The friendship network's school achievement orientation was related positively to school competence but was unrelated to peer or perceived self-competence. Friendship network density did not add to the variance explained by the other network variables. Methodological contributions of this study include the development of a computer program to map friendship networks and the expansion of network analysis beyond the examination of social support functions.

Occupational stress, social support, and burnout among correctional officers.

Abstract: Three alternative models of the role of workplace social support in ameliorating the effect of occupational stress on burnout symptoms were tested. Correctional officers (N = 166) completed a variety of questionnaire measures of job stress, the Inventory of Socially Supportive Behaviors, and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Analyses showed no support for either the direct or buffering models of social support. Rather, the data were consistent with the indirect model of social support in the workplace. Among the job stress indices, role ambiguity, work load, and direct contact with inmates were found to be independent predictors of burnout symptomatology. The findings suggest a preventive rather than remedial effect of workplace social support in reducing occupational stress and burnout.

Measuring small life events.

Abstract: The development of an inventory to assess small events is described. In the construction of the inventory specific criteria were established and existing event inventories were screened for items and new items written to fit these criteria. The event had to denote an observable change in a person's everyday life, have a discrete beginning, be classifiable as either desirable or undesirable, and be scaled as having an average of 250 Life Change Units or less using B. S. Dohrenwend, Krasnoff, Askenasy, Dohrenwend's (1978) magnitude estimation parameters. The inventory was constructed to cover events in major areas of life concern: family, work, leisure, household, financial, health/illness, nonfamily relations, crime/criminal activity, education, religion, and transportation. Two studies are reported that test the utility of the inventory.

Impact of a preventive social problem solving intervention on children's coping with middle-school stressors.

Abstract: Children receiving 1 year or 1/2 year of a preventive social problem solving program in elementary school were compared with each other and with a no-treatment group upon entry into middle school. One year of training was significantly related to reductions in the severity of a variety of middle-school stressors. Most importantly, a clear mediating role for social problem solving (SPS) skills was found. Children lacking in SPS skills were more likely to experience intense stressors; however, possessing the skills was not necessarily predictive of adjustment to stressors. The results are discussed in terms of the implications of this asymmetry and the strong support given to the value of social problem solving as a preventive intervention for children.

Drug use, educational aspirations, and work force involvement: the transition from adolescence to young adulthood.

Abstract: The impact of high school drug use and academic potential on high school outcome (graduate or dropout) and young adult work force involvement, college involvement, and educational aspirations was examined. Frequency of drug use, grade point average, and educational plans were assessed for 479 adolescents while in high school. Four years later this same group of individuals, now in their early 20s, reported their current level of drug use, present life involvement on a variety of measures, and whether they had ever graduated from high school. Results indicate that high school graduation is predicted from a lack of cigarette and hard drug use and the presence of high academic aspirations. Using latent variable causal models, it was found that high school Academic Potential and Drug Use were significantly correlated in a negative direction. Across-time analyses indicate that high school Academic Potential significantly predicted young adult Educational Aspirations, College Involvement, and college attendance. High school Drug Use significantly predicted young adult Drug Use, a lack of College Involvement, and increased Work Force Involvement. These results do not support a psychogenic hypothesis of drug use and academic potential but rather confirm an impaired abilities or general deviance interpretation.

Context and process: An ecological view of the interdependence of practice and research

Abstract: The future for the field of community psychology is promising as we visualize that our key resources are citizens, colleagues in pyschology, and those persons in the social sciences who share a commitment to collaborative research.

Social support as a multifaceted concept: examination of important dimensions for adjustment.

Abstract: Four commonly used operationalizations of the social support concept: network contact frequency, satisfaction with support (including nine dimensions), perceived availability of support, and use of support, were related to two measures of psychological adjustment (Beck Depression Inventory and Symptom Checklist-90) and to one measure of physical adjustment (Cornell Medical Index). Subjects were 68 45- to 85-year-old, highly stressed care-givers to spouses with Alzheimer's disease. Results indicate that of the four operationalizations, Satisfaction with Support was the only significant predictor of depression and general psychopathology. The set of four support variables showed the strongest relationship to depression level, next strongest to general psychopathology, and least to physical health. The satisfaction with nine social support dimensions related differentially to the types of adjustment. Results suggest the importance of specificity (sample, support operationalization, dimensions, adjustment measures) in social support research.

Preventive intervention with latency‐aged children of divorce: A replication study

Abstract: This replication study assessed the efficacy of a school-based preventive intervention for latency-aged children of divorce. The Children of Divorce Intervention Program (CODIP) emphasizes support, identifying and expressing divorce-related feelings, training situationally relevant communication, problem solving, and anger control skills, and enhancing self-esteem. Fifty-four children of divorce participated in the 11-session program conducted in small groups. Their adjustment was contrasted at pre and post with that of demographically matched peers (N = 78) from intact families on teacher, parent, self-report, and group leader measures. Children of divorce were less well adjusted than their peers before the intervention. They improved significantly after the intervention, approaching youngsters from intact families in adjustment status. The replication data support CODIP's efficacy as a preventive alternative for children of divorce. Needed future development and research steps are considered.

The medical context of parental coping with childhood cancer.

Abstract: This research assessed the extent to which contextual factors, especially the medical context, are related to the use of specific coping strategies by 74 parents of surviving children with cancer. Parents reported that they coped reasonably well by using information-seeking, problem-solving, help-seeking, maintaining emotional balance, relying on religion, being optimistic, deny- ing, and accepting. More highly educated parents tended to use problem solv- ing, optimism, and information seeking significantly more and denial significant- ly less than less well-educated parents. However, gender and income were unrelated to coping. The use of specific coping strategies was not related to severity of the child's medical condition, stress level or parents" own evalua- tions of their coping effectiveness. However, the quality of relations with the medical staff was strongly related to coping strategies. Use of passive coping strategies was positively related to good relations with the medical staff. Most studies of stressful life events indicate that illness or loss of a loved one represents a major stressor (Dohrenwend & Dohrenwend, 1974; Dohren- wend, Krasnoff, Askenasy, & Dohrenwend, 1978; Holmes & Rahe, 1967). Although diagnosis and treatment of a child with a serious and chronic ill- ness seldom appears in such studies, it also represents a significant life disrup- tion which threatens personal equilibrium and family well-being. The initial impact of the diagnosis is illustrated in the following reports from parents.

Vulnerability to economic stress.

Abstract: A stress vulnerability model was applied to the relationship between economic stress and mental health. Longitudinal data were obtained by reinterviewing 291 respondents from a prior community survey of economic change and health (Catalano & Dooley, 1983). The follow-up survey was conducted at the height of the last recession, approximately 1 year after the first. As predicted, increases in self-reported economic stress adversely affected psychological health, controlling for prior mental health status. However, individuals with poor prior mental health status were more vulnerable to economic stress: They were more likely to experience it during this economic contraction and were somewhat less likely to recover from it. Economic stress and mental health appear to have reciprocal effects, suggesting a spiral model of adaptation. Implications for interventions concerning economic change and mental health are discussed.

Stress-coping-support in rural communities: A model for primary prevention

Abstract: Because of the relatively small and homogeneous population in rural communities, community-wide prevention efforts are often more manageable than in urban areas. Community needs and resources can be identified more easily, and the feasibility of different interventions can be assessed more readily.

Events of parental divorce: Stressfulness ratings by children, parents, and clinicians

Abstract: The stressfulness, for the "typical" child, of 62 events that occur to children of divorce was rated by children of divorce (n = 58), their custodial parents (n = 58), and clinicians (n = 50). In addition, a larger group of children (n = 123) rated the goodness or badness of the events that had happened to them. The rank orderings of the mean stress ratings for the typical child made by children, parents, and clinicians were highly correlated. However, when the absolute stress value of the events was compared across raters, children rated 10 events as significantly less stressful than did parents (p less than .05); parents' and clinicians' ratings differed for 9 events, parents rating 7 as less stressful (p less than .05). Children rated 19 events as less stressful than did clinicians (p less than .05). The rank ordering of the children's mean ratings of events actually experienced correlated highly with the rank orderings of the children's mean ratings of the negative events for the typical child.

Distress and help-seeking as a function of person-environment fit and self-efficacy: a causal model.

Abstract: Self-efficacy, indicators of distress (state anxiety and frequency of physical symptoms), help-seeking (visits to the campus health center, an outside physician, and a counselor), and two measures of person-environment (P-E) fit were assessed on 152 college students and examined in a LISREL model. The two P-E fit measures were perceived discrepancy, the profile difference score between how each student would like their residence floor and how each viewed it as being, and actual discrepancy, the profile difference score between how each would like the floor to be and the mean rating for how floor residents viewed the floor. It was found that self-efficacy and perceived discrepancy had independent and moderate effects on distress but not on help-seeking, whereas actual discrepancy was found to have a strong effect on help-seeking and no direct effect on distress. Help-seeking was found to have a strong negative effect on distress.

Social networks and adult social identities: profiles and correlates of support and rejection.

Abstract: The growth of interest in social networks has underscored the need for integrative analyses of network dimensions. A three-pronged strategy to achieve this objective was pursued in a study of 261 married women nurses. First, network variables related to important adult social identities were differentiated. Factor analyses revealed four network interaction factors: work support, work rejection, general support, and general rejection. An additional factor analysis differentiated work associates from nonwork network members. Second, cluster analysis of these factor scores identified five different network profiles. The profiles differed in the importance of the woman's work to her nonwork ties as well as the frequency and pattern of different positive and negative interactions. Third, individuals with these contrasting network profiles differed on levels of life satisfaction and psychological symptomatology. The discussion emphasizes social network differences within the broader context of the ecology of human development.

Cognitive and affective components of life events: Their relations and effects on weil-being

Abstract: A model of how five key facets of life events are related to one another and influence mental health and functioning was examined. The facets are the experience of control over, anticipation of, pleasantness from, stress generated by, and adjustment to life events. Multivariate analyses of data from 420 adult male respondents yielded results that were largely consistent with the hypothesized model. The results suggested that control over and anticipation of life events influenced the perceived stress produced by the events and the ability to adjust to them. In turn, it appeared that such stress and adjustment influenced mental health and functioning. The effects of control and anticipation on mental health and functioning were indirect only. Contrary to our hypothesis, control seemed to heighten perceived stress; but control, as well as anticipation, appeared to increase the ability to adjust. Whereas previous studies found no effect of desirable events on well-being, this study found that pleasant events had a beneficial effect. The discussion examines the implications of the findings for future research.

A comparison of natural and professional help.

Abstract: The study investigated the process and effectiveness of three natural and professional groups who commonly provide help to persons experiencing the important critical life event of marital disruption. Subjects were 42 helpers: 14 mental health professionals, 14 divorce lawyers, and 14 leaders of mutual help groups. Analyses, based on variables derived from coded audiotapes of simulated helping interactions and from ratings of helper effectiveness, indicated many similarities between mental health professionals and mutual help leaders but considerable differences between these two groups and divorce lawyers. Lawyers did more talking overall, showed greater proportions of information giving and closed questions, and were more effective in the legal/financial domain. Additional analyses indicated that all helpers showed fewer information-gathering behaviors and more information- and advice-giving behaviors as the helping interaction progressed.

The importation, transmission, and moderation of stress in the family system

Abstract: Despite its importance in community psychology, the stress process is still viewed primarily as an individual-level phenomenon, little research being conducted on the dynamics of stress in a social system such as the family. Propositions derived from a model of family stress were tested using data from a cross-sectional survey of family triads (father, mother, and adolescent). Two measures of distress were related significantly to both macro-and microstressors, and perceived social support did not buffer this relationship. Stressors endogenous to the family were significantly associated with those exogenous to the family (stressor importation hypothesis); contrary to prediction, this relationship did not vary across family members or family types (high vs. low cohesion). Distress in some family members was significantly associated with stressors experienced by other family members (stress transmission hypothesis); this relationship did not vary across family types but did vary across family members to some extent in that stress was transmitted from adolescents to parents to a greater degree than vice versa.

Child care in rural areas: needs, attitudes, and preferences.

Abstract: The purpose of this research was to assess the needs and preferences for child care services in rural areas. We examined data from interviews with 525 mothers of children up to 12 years of age in two southeastern states. Results indicated that, while rural mothers expressed a desire for more child care services, many were ambivalent about other-than-mother care. On the one hand, they had limited knowledge about and experience with a variety of child care arrangements; on the other hand, they could identify their preferences for types and specific features of day care they desired. These preferences were summarized to form a hypothetical "ideal type" of child care for rural mothers.

Southern Appalachia: analytical models, social services, and native support systems.

Abstract: The model of ethnicity has been applied in this paper to Appalachian natives The problems suffered by Appalachians in terms of high dropout rates, institutional discrimination, prejudice, and stereotyping are familiar to other ethnic minority groups Yet because the majority of the population in Appalachia are racially indistinct from mainstream Americans, there is resistance to the notion of ethnic difference This has significant repercussions Ironically, service providers and others in the region often recognize the distinctive nature of native Appalachians while, at the same time, reaffirming that they are white Americans like anywhere else This is often said with good intentions The result, however, justifies a lack of action taken to improve services for native Appalachians If they are perceived as no different, inequalities go unrecognized and unredressed If, on the other hand, differences are perceived only on the basis of socioeconomic class and/or rural residence, social services may miss the cultural dimension that may be all-important in identifying problems and potential means of improvement It is hoped that application of the notion of ethnicity to mountain people will be helpful in the structuring of human services in the region

Job stress and task interest: two factors in work life quality.

Abstract: A study of how stressful job events and task interest are associated with quality of work life was conducted through interviews and questionnaire assessment of 56 members of the nursing staff at a psychiatric hospital. Factor analyses of work life satisfactions revealed two separable factors, one that accounted for satisfaction with the work itself and another that identified level of satisfaction with the work context. As predicted by a two-factor model, the number of stressful work events correlated with dissatisfactions with the work context but not with satisfaction with the work itself. Level of task interest was associated with higher ratings of satisfaction with the work itself and was uncorrelated with level of work context satisfaction. Turnover was predicted by both the number of stressors on the job and a lack of interest in tasks. An interaction was found between these two variables predicting turnover; employees tended to stay at work even if the job was stressful when the tasks were interesting.

Assessment of stress-buffering effects of social networks on psychological symptoms in an inner-city elderly population.

Abstract: Social network researchers have been divided into two camps: those who propose that social networks have a direct effect on subsequent psychological symptoms and those who posit a stress-buffering effect as well. Previous research has been limited by rudimentary measures of social interaction and the absence of longitudinal data as well as by different approaches to the assessment of possible buffering effects. In the present study, using 19 social network variables, the authors followed 133 elderly residents of mid-Manhattan SRO hotels for 1 year. Three different methods of determining buffering effects were examined: Dividing the sample into high- and low-stress groups and contrasting differences in percentage variance accounted for by social networks between the two groups; Examining the group as a whole to assess if any Network Variable X Stress interactional terms are significant; Examining the group as a whole to assess whether there is a reduction in the beta value of stress with respect to psychological symptoms when network variables are added to the analysis. Method 1 indicated a direct network effect, but none of the methods indicated a buffering effect. Of clinical relevance was the nonlinearity of the network effects, that is, depending upon a person's stressor level, different network dimensions must be emphasized and strengthened.

Social support as a buffer of anxiety: an experimental analogue.

Abstract: The anxiety-buffering role of social support was investigated using an experimental analogue. Undergraduate females (N = 75) were assigned to one of three conditions: tested alone, tested with a stranger, or tested with a friend. Subjects first completed the Perceived Social Support Scale, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and a palmar sweat measure. They were then told that after a 5-min waiting period they would be asked to answer a number of personal questions while being videotaped. Subjects accompanied by a friend showed a smaller increase in state anxiety than the other two groups. There was no group difference on the palmar sweat measure. No significant relationship between perceived social support and changes in state anxiety was found.

Refining fit: Conceptual and methodological challenges

Abstract: In some respects the development of research on person-environment fit has paralleled that of other methods and constructs in psychology such as psychotherapy and social support. Initial efforts have focused on basic questions such as: “Does psychotherapy work?; What are the correlates of social support?; and Is fit good for you?” However, as research has accumulated, it becomes clear that the initial questions raised were too simple (Gottlieb, 1981; Kiesler, 1971). Like psychotherapy and social support, some kinds of fit may be good for some people, in some places, some of the time, and in some ways. The challenge for researchers in the area is the development of models and methods that capture more fully the richness of the transaction between person and environment.

The community competence scale in the placement of the deinstitutionalized mentally ill.

Abstract: Little systematic research has been directed towards the determination of appropriate residential placements for deinstitutionalized psychiatric patients. A previous study suggested that the Community Competence Scale (CCS), a 124-item multiscale instrument, had potential utility for community placement decisions. In the present study, the CCS was administered to 52 deinstitutionalized patients placed in an urban boarding home, a rural boarding home, and urban apartments. No significant differences on the CCS occurred attributable to urban vs. rural setting; accordingly, the urban and rural boarding home groups were combined. The CCS discriminated between patients placed in boarding home and apartment settings after variability between the groups associated with age and diagnosis had been removed. The CCS discriminated more effectively between the groups than did prior hospitalization, subsequent rehospitalization, or the Social Competence Scale (SCS). The CCS was significantly positively correlated with the SCS and significantly negatively correlated with previous hospitalization and age.

Families and schools in rural Appalachia.

Abstract: A literature review revealed conceptual elements and approaches that have been productive in the study of rural education and rural families and children as they interface with schools. The Appalachian region is considered relative to these same issues. For nearly two decades the Appalachian Educational Laboratory has pursued systematic research and development aimed at improving the effectiveness of rural education by strengthening working linkages between families and schools. This programmatic work is summarized in order to illustrate--through both its breadth and specificity--the continual interchange which necessarily occurs between research and successful community practice. Implications and recommendations are considered.

Context and process: An ecological view of the interdependence of practice and research: An invited address by James G. Kelly

Abstract: James G. Kelly has made important and wide-ranging conributions to community psychology. The field is fortunate to have a member with his vision and commitment. In the paper presented here, Jim discusses the advantages that arise when scientists and citizens work as collaborative partners in community research. As with his previous work, his ideas provide new insights into the role of community psychology in and for the community.