Showing papers on "Social stress published in 1991"

Identity processes and social stress

Abstract: Social stress can be understood by incorporating interruption theory as developed in research on stress into a model of identity processes drawn from identity theory. From this perspective, social stress results from interruption of the feedback loop that maintains identity processes. I discuss four mechanisms of interruption of identity processes: broken identity loops, interference between identity systems, over-controlled identity systems, and the invocation of episodic identities. Each of these four mechanisms is associated with conditions known to produce feelings of distress. Finally, I discuss how personal evaluation relates to identity processes and distress, and how distress can lead to changes in identity. T hirty years ago inldentity andAnxiety, Stein, Vidich and White (1960) expressed the concern that the advent of a mass society would lead to a "loss of identity" and hence to widespread anxiety or stress. Today, research on social stress is more likely to emphasize the excessive demands and pressures arising from the many roles and identities that people maintain (Holroyd and Lazarus 1982; House 1974). While the implicit contradiction between these contrasting themes of too few or too many identities has not yet been resolved, interest in the relationship between stress or anxiety and identity has grown. In this paper, I propose a model of the relationship between stress and identity. I show that in a variety of situations known to produce stress, stress results from a common mechanism: disruption of the identity process. The importance of this common mechanism is two-fold. First, from the point of view of identity theory, it underlines the importance of understanding identity as a continuous process rather than as a state or trait of an individual. Second, it gives a focus to research on coping and problem solving as mechanisms for dealing with anxiety and distress. While Thoits (1991) has recently suggested that life events related to identities are more likely to produce distress than other life events, the present paper presents a model that helps to clarify this link.

The life stress paradigm and psychological distress.

Abstract: The paper focuses on two forces (stressors and resources) in the life stress process as they affect psychological distress. Utilizing three waves of panel data from a representative community sample in upstate New York, six causal models of the life stress process are tested with indicators of two types of stressors (social and physiological) and two types of resources (social and psychological). Both deterring and coping models are tested. Analysis shows that: (1) stressors and resources in the social environment have a direct impact on depressive symptoms, (2) social resources mediate the effects of social stressors on psychological distress, and (3) psychological resources indirectly affect distress by enhancing social resources. The critical role played by the social environment in the life stress process involving psychological distress is substantiated. The implications of these and other findings are discussed.

Social model of depression in mice of C57BL/6J strain

Abstract: Long experience of defeat in daily social intermale confrontations and permanent living with aggressive males under sensory contact conditions [Kudryavtseva (8)] has been shown to produce changes in the patterns of submissive behavior of male mice of C57BL/6J strain. The submissive males after 20 defeats demonstrated passive defense postures instead of active defense and withdrawal which they had displayed in first encounters. Moreover, new immobile postures appeared, which were very rare in the first confrontations. Submissive animals displayed a decrease of ambulation in the open-field test and increase the immobility time in the Porsolt's test. Chronic treatment with imipramine prevented the increase of “depressiveness” estimated by means of the Porsolt's test. There was a loss of weight and some disturbances in gastrointestinal functions. The data are discussed in terms of the development of depression in submissive male C57BL/6J mice as a result of chronic unavoidable social stress.

Social support, stress, and depressive symptoms among the elderly: test of a process model.

Abstract: Effects of social support, negative life events, and daily hassles on depressive symptoms were assessed in 301 adults aged 65 or older, in person 3 times at 6-month intervals and by mail questionnaires every month over a 12-month period. Initial social support predicted severity of depressive symptoms 12 months later. Social support and initial levels of depressive symptomatology predicted number of daily hassles but not number of major life events. Effects of social support, depression, and major life events on the incidence of daily hassles remained significant without the inclusion of hassles reflecting depressive symptomatology or problems in relationships or whose content overlapped with major life events. Daily hassles mediated the effects of major life events on subsequent depression. Results did not differ for men and women. Implications for models of the relations among social support, stress, and depression are discussed. In a substantial body of literature that has accumulated over the past 15 years, researchers have evaluated the relations among social support, stressful life events, and physical and mental health status. Two models of these relations have been proposed. According to the first, the buffering hypothesis, social support serves a protective role primarily during times of stress by enhancing adaptive coping behavior (Cobb, 1979). Thus an interaction is hypothesized between stress and social support in predicting physical and mental health, whereby the effect of stress on health-related variables varies depending on the level of social support. According to the second model, social support has positive effects on health and well-being in both the presence and the absence of stress. This direct effects model predicts that there is a positive relation between social support and physical and mental health that is independent of the effects of stress. Empirical research on the relations among stress, social support, and health has provided mixed support for the buffering hypothesis (for a recent review, see S. Cohen & Wills, 1985). Although some researchers have found that high levels of social support protect a person from the negative effects of high levels of stress, others have found that supportive relationships are associated with good physical and mental health regardless of the presence or absence of stress. In a relatively small number of studies, investigators have examined the effects of social support and stressful life events

Autonomic reactivity and hypertension in blacks: a review and proposed model.

Abstract: In summary, according to the proposed model, race is viewed as a sociocultural designation that denotes differential exposure to chronic social stressors. It is proposed that black Americans are exposed to significantly more chronic social stressors than are white Americans. Many of these chronic social stressors have been associated with hypertension prevalence in epidemiological studies. Furthermore, chronic stress has been shown to augment cardiovascular reactivity to acute stress in both animals and humans, and to increase sodium retention in spontaneously hypertensive rats. Acute stress has also been demonstrated to increase sodium retention in humans. The essential element of our model is that chronic social stressors that are represented more within the black American population due to historical factors are related to an increase in sodium sensitivity and retention. This altered sodium metabolism may be further augmented by biological, behavioral, and psychological risk factors for hypertension and modulated by stress coping resources. It is hoped that this model will serve as a stimulus for further research on the biopsychosocial aspects of autonomic reactivity and hypertension in blacks.

Formation of a new social group of unfamiliar female rhesus monkeys affects the immune and pituitary adrenocortical systems.

Abstract: Social stress associated with the formation of a new group of rhesus monkeys resulted in increased basal cortisol secretion and significant decreases in immunological parameters. Eight adult female rhesus monkeys, all of which had been raised in social groups, but with no common social history, were simultaneously introduced into an outdoor enclosure along with an adult male. Behavioral data were collected during the introduction and over 9 weeks thereafter. Blood samples were collected prior to and at intervals for 9 weeks following formation. The establishment of a dominance hierarchy, apparent within 48 h, was accomlished with no serious fighting and a complete absence of wounding or trauma. Overall, the group showed a significant increase in cortisol and a significant decrease in the absolute number of total lymphocytes and CD4+ and CD8+ T cells at 24 h postformation, but not thereafter. However, when partitioned into high and low dominance rank, differences in CD4+ and CD8+ T cells were evident for up to 9 weeks with low ranking subjects showing significantly lower values. The housing condition of the subjects immediately prior to introduction, either indoors in individual caging or outdoors in social groups, may have influenced behavior, rank acquisition, and possibly differences in immune parameters. These data demonstrate that social group formation is a potent psychosocial stressor in primates, since stress-sensitive changes were observed in the absence of serious aggression and wounding.

Social hassles and psychological health in the context of chronic crowding.

Abstract: Data are presented on the interactive effects of an enduring environmental stressor with acute, daily social stressors on psychological distress. A cross-sectional study of males in urban India and a longitudinal study of male and female American college students examined the interplay of these two types of stressors. In India, social hassles in the home predicted psychological symptoms only among residents of crowded homes, after statistically adjusting for income. In America, the interaction between social hassles and crowding was replicated in analyses adjusting for prior psychological symptoms, prior social acquaintanceship with housemates, and income. A six-month follow-up study with the American sample replicated the interaction. In all three analyses of the social hassle-crowding interaction, there was a main effect of crowding but no main effect of social hassles on psychological symptoms. These findings suggest that some chronic environmental stressors may increase the impact of acute social stressors, and highlight the importance of examining contextual factors in the stress and health process.

Psychosocial stress during adolescence: Intrapersonal and interpersonal processes.

Abstract: More than any other developmental period, adolescence has been characterized in the psychological and sociological literatures as fraught with struggles that are both intrapersonal and interpersonal in nature. Both the intrapersonal and interpersonal domains serve as sources of psychosocial stress during adolescence. Adolescence is a period in which relationships outside of the family multiply, take on new meanings, and deepen in intensity. Adolescent females appear to report more major interpersonal stress than males, and the relationship of major life stress with psychological symptoms may be stronger for adolescent females than males. Models of psychosocial stress that have emphasized intrapersonal factors and the cognitive appraisal processes of the individual can enrich and be enriched by our understanding of the social and interpersonal nature of stress. Understanding the meaning of a stressful event could involve inferences made from coping strategies used to deal with the event.

Gender Differences in the Costs and Benefits of Peer Relationships During Adolescence

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine gender differences in the impact of social stress and social support on adolescents' emotional well-being. Forty-eight males and 70 females in Grades 7 thro...

Intoxication and exposure to stress: effects of temporal patterning.

Abstract: In this study we explored the temporal patterning of intoxication and exposure to a stress-producing situation on alcohol's effects on stress. Forty male social drinkers received either a 0.7 g/kg dose of alcohol or a placebo. When exposure to a social stressor preceded intoxication, a significant alcohol-induced increase in heart-rate reactivity was found. When intoxication preceded exposure to the stressor, conventional analysis of the data indicated a stress-dampening effect on alcohol on heart rate. No differences were obtained from self-reports of anxiety in either pattern. The findings are explained in terms of attentional and cognitive-encoding processes.

Social behavior and gender in biomedical investigations using monkeys: studies in atherogenesis.

Abstract: We review the use of socially housed cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) in biomedical research with emphasis on studies of atherosclerosis, particularly in the two specific domains of atherosclerosis investigation for which nonhuman primates are especially well-suited as animal models: gender differences and psychosocial influences. We found that the presence of normal ovarian function prevented exacerbation of diet-induced coronary artery atherosclerosis in female monkeys. However, any manipulation or condition which impaired ovarian function tended to diminish or abolish this "female" protection. Among group-housed female monkeys, low social status was accompanied by ovarian dysfunction and, not surprisingly, by exacerbated coronary artery atherosclerosis as well. Surgical menopause (ovariectomy) also induced exacerbation of coronary atherosclerosis in monkeys, a situation which was prevented by estrogen replacement therapy. Conversely, pregnancy (a hyperestrogenic state) resulted in markedly diminished atherosclerosis. A somewhat different pattern of atherogenesis emerged among socially-housed males. Here, socially dominant animals developed exacerbated coronary artery atherosclerosis, but only under conditions of social stress (viz., disruption caused by periodic reorganization of social group membership). We hypothesized that exposure to repeated group reorganizations provoked activation of the sympathetic nervous system among dominant animals; in turn, the hemodynamic and metabolic concomitants of sympathetic activation may have damaged the coronary arteries of these monkeys, potentiating atherogenesis. To test this hypothesis, males were housed in unstable social groupings, with half of the monkeys administered a beta-adrenergic blocking agent (to attenuate heart rate and blood pressure responses to stress). The beta-blocker inhibited atherosclerosis, but only among those animals behaviorally predisposed to develop exacerbated lesions (i.e. dominant monkeys). These results support the view that monkeys are suitable research models of atherosclerosis, a disease that affects millions of humans.

Stress and differential alterations in immune system functions: conclusions from social stress studies in animals.

Abstract: Psychosocial factors are implicated in the development, in the course of, and in the recovery from disease. The immune system may be a mediator of the disease. Studies with animal models using social interactions in rodents suggest that short- and long-term social stress does not invariably suppress immune system functions. The magnitude and direction of changes in diverse compartments of the immune system are highly correlated to the social position of the animal. Furthermore, genetic, developmental, and adult experience may predetermine the animal's coping strategy both in terms of behaviour and neuroendocrinology, and hence in immunology as well. It is argued that disease processes should be considered as a function of baseline immunological state.

Stress Physiological, Haematological and Clinical-chemical Status of Farm Mink Placed in Groups or Singly

Abstract: The effect of social environment on the number of eosinophil leucocytes, total plasma cortisol, and the ratio between per cent occurrence of heterophil leucocytes and lymphocytes was measured on 168 farm mink. Furthermore, haematological and clinical-chemical variables, the frequences of bite damages, and weight of body and organs at pelting were included in the investigation. The mink kits were placed either individually or in groups consisting of 3 males and 3 females. Differences in social environment had no effect on the number of eosinophil leucocytes, on the ratio between heterophil leucocytes and lymphocytes, nor on the haematological variables. For females in groups, the concentration of cortisol increased in comparison with females kept individually which shows that females in groups have a higher social stress level than females kept individually. Generally, females are more sensitive to stress than males measured by the concentration of cortisol. The activity of the enzymes ASAT and CK...

Social stressors, social supports, and self-esteem as predictors of morbidity in adults with chronic lung disease.

Abstract: Psychosocial correlates of morbidity and functional status were examined in 44 white adults with chronic lung disease. Demographic characteristics, functional status, stressful life changes, social supports, and self-esteem were assessed at baseline by a self-administered questionnaire. Hospital days, bed-disability days, restricted-activity days, and physician visits were then measured prospectively by mailed questionnaire over the next 6 months. There were no cross-sectional associations of psychosocial variables with demographic characteristics. Better functional status (measured by the Sickness Impact Profile) was associated with a lower 12-month life-change score (measured by the Social Readjustment Rating Scale), with stronger social supports (measured by a 13-item index), and with higher self-esteem (measured by the Rosenberg Scale). On bivariate analysis, higher life-change score predicted higher levels of all four morbidity variables; low social supports predicted increased bed days, restricted-activity days, and physician visits; and low self-esteem predicted high restricted-activity. After controlling for demographic characteristics and baseline function by multivariate analysis, low social supports continued to predict higher rates of physician visits, but the other associations of psychosocial variables with morbidity were no longer statistically significant. The results suggest that patients with weak social supports have increased use of physician services.

Neuroendocrine Evidence for Hypersensitivity in Serotonergic Neuronal System after Psychosocial Stress of Defeat

Abstract: The effect of the 5-HT1A agonist ipsapirone on behaviour and plasma corticosterone levels was studied in the same male Wistar rats before and after psychosocial stress of defeat. Ipsapirone in a dose of 5 mg/kg i.p. failed to affect corticosterone levels before social stress whereas after defeat the hormone response was much higher than in drug-free controls. The exaggerated stress response and particularly the presence of high post-defeat corticosterone levels in ipsapirone treated rats already before the exposure to the dominant rat lead to the hypothesis that postsynaptic 5-HT1A receptor hypersensitivity develops after stress of defeat.

Relationships between social and health factors and major depression in old age in a multivariate analysis

Abstract: This community-based epidemiologic survey is concerned with relationships between social and health factors and major depression in a Finnish population aged 60 years and over as demonstrated in a multivariate analysis based on log-linear models. The log-linear model constructed for major depressive persons revealed six interactions. The first could be described by a low number of hobbies and moderate or poor physical health as rated by a physican; the second by widowed or divorced status and a low number of hobbies; the third by widowed or divorced status and a high incidence of current social stress factors but a low incidence of current stressful health factors, or by married status, a low incidence of social stress factors but a high incidence of current stressful health factors; the fourth by a high incidence of current social stress factors, high functional capacity, and a low incidence of current stressful health factors, or a high incidence of current social stress factors, poor functional capacit...

Psychogenic illness and social mobility between generations

Abstract: A representative epidemiological survey on psychogenic disorders confirms the often reported result, that these disorders are more common in lower socioeconomic classes. However, in looking for the socioeconomic origin of the subjects (parental class position), it could be shown that "cases" were equally distributed over social classes. Therefore, it seems to be unlikely that low social class as macrosocial factor in its own right has causative influence on the subjects' later mental health or illness. It seems more likely that microsocial aspects of primary and secondary socialization are of decisive importance. After the "breeding-hypothesis" as an explanation of the inverse relationship between social class and mental illness could be ruled out, the rival hypotheses of social stress and social selection (drift-hypothesis) are discussed. A research design which might test these alternatives is outlined.