Premium
Social support, personality and the prediction of psychological distress: An interactionist approach
Author(s) -
Duckitt John
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/1097-4679(198409)40:5<1199::aid-jclp2270400513>3.0.co;2-s
Subject(s) - psychology , personality , psychological distress , california psychological inventory , distress , social psychology , clinical psychology , psychotherapist , personality assessment inventory , mental health
Theoritical considerations as well as recent research suggest that the concept of social support, instead of being viewed solely as stress buffer, should be seen as an important etiolgogical factor in symptom development in its own right. Consequently, the present study set out to examine the in fluence of six personality factors, derived by a prinicipal components analysis of the 16PF, on the relationship between social support and symptoms of psychological distress in a student sample ( N = 139). The results indicated a significant interaction between extraversion and social support; extraverts showed a substantially heightened sensitivity to social support variations. This findings appears to emphasize the usefulness of an interactionist approach that integrates person and context variables for the prediction of psychological distress.