Exam 2 Chapter 6 What is social support time of need you needed it Any interaction or relationship that provides you with actual assistance in a Also includes your belief that you could be helped you could be assisted if 02 20 2012 Personality is going to have an impact on social support Social relationships o Are they there for you Yes or no Received assistance o What are people doing for you how are they helping you Perceived assistance o Do you believe that its available to you We define social support in 2 ways structure and or function Structure e g Social Network Quantity of Support Existence and quantity of social relationships E g Cohen s Social Network Index o Size How many of these relationships do you endorse o Marital status Yes or no o Confidant Can you confide in this person o Network relationships How often do you talk to them Function Qualitative approach Types of support o E g ISEL 12 12 items that allow us to measure what someone might do for emotional support providing you with reassurance nurture you warmth empathy they are listening and hearing you out they are allowing you to vent they are not solving your problem they are providing compassion receiving this support when you wanted other kinds of support makes stress occur belongingness support your go to person your friend does things with you reaching out to them doesn t require much because most likely they are sitting right next to you availability of companionship most likely providing you with is someone to be with so you know your not alone instrumental tangible support helping you with providing you with actual material support service money ect the person that helps you in more than just an emotional or belongingness support actual person who is physically helping you informational appraisal support access to information and provide you with that knowledge to do what you need to do providing you also with advice providing you with their assessment on the situation not to be confused with emotional support esteem validation support letting me know that I have to tools to complete the task and that I can do it start to feel better been reminded that you are capable of finishing the task Measuring Social Support How to measure What should we measure o Structure o Function o Perceived o Received Antonucci s Convoy Model Circle 1 hard to imagine life without Circle 2 people that are close to you Circle 3 people that you care about but don t see as often Represents a 3rd way that we can assess social support Asked who is important to you Can give us an understanding of your social support Allows us to measure function Benefits o Lifespan Importance of certain relationships across time Whose there How many people are there o Stable vs Dynamic Whose always there Where are they o Qualitative vs Quantitative Assess negative support not the kind of support you need attempt of controlling you and your decisions o Non reciprocity upset We expect family to do stuff for us and when they don t we are We expect of certain individuals to give us support and when they don t we become upset Article Shelton Cohen suggested that a ways to measure social support by exposing subjects to various colds and see what kind of systems the IV is who gets sick people who have more social support are less likely to get sick What does social support do for you It can improve mood It can provide you with that necessary boost of perseverance It can provide a boost to resiliency Lower rates of depression neurotic symptoms Appropriate social support are less likely to exhibit depression 1 year in the future less likely to exhibit anxiety Direct effects on your physical well being o Lowering risk for heart disease o Lowering risk of prostate cancer Low levels of social support similar to effects of smoking Having low levels is as if you were smoking Social Support is highly associated with Life death Low social support die sooner Why care about Social Support Social support is positively associated with o Psychological well being o Physical well being But is this effect correlation or causation Completely correlations o Cant randomly assign to low or high social support Unethical Virtually all research is correlational Possible alternatives o Could illness lead to disruption o 3rd variable causes association gender sex age race ethnicity Alternative explanations unlikely SS still matters o Longitudinal studies o When taking other variables into account We use longitudinal prospective design To eliminate a 3rd variable problem o Measure it When does social support lead to better health Buffering Hypothesis o Suggests that social support is beneficial during times of high stress o SS helps some some of the time o It can help you to think about difficult situations more positively o SS can help you to cope more effectively Direct Effects Hypothesis o Suggests that social support is beneficial to everyone o SS helps all all of the time o If you have high levels of SS you will be more healthy can someone who is low in SS Process of support Who benefits from what o Controllable events practical support o Uncontrollable events emotional support What s happening o SS allows for stress release Disclosure to another person Write down what you are thinking o Social comparison A give and take Have the ability to reduce uncertainty that you are experiencing and know that you are not alone o Assistance o Organization Direct help practical Extra set of hands to complete a task Seeing the bigger picture Allows you to take a step back and have some objectivity Someone who can help you step back and see the bigger picture and provide you with the objectives you need to accomplish your goals Social ties and susceptibility to the colon cold Cohen Article What did they do Why o Subjects were healthy at the time of the study o Collected a variety of information then we exposed some of them to colds How did they do it What did they find o Check the methods section o He measured susceptibility by using his Social Network Index o Results section o They found that network diversity is associated with decreased susceptibility to developing a cold As the network becomes more diverse and your susceptibility goes down negative correlation What are the implications Any concerns Limitations How can you increase social support Attempt to form larger social networks Participate in organized social support groups Think about and discuss what kind of SS you will need in