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The role of social support in mediating the psychological consequences of economic stress
Author(s) -
Whelan Christopher T.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
sociology of health and illness
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1467-9566
pISSN - 0141-9889
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9566.ep11343797
Subject(s) - psychology , distress , social psychology , context (archaeology) , poverty , stress (linguistics) , psychological distress , social support , sociology , mental health , clinical psychology , psychotherapist , economics , paleontology , linguistics , philosophy , biology , economic growth
The idea that social support can act as a buffer against the negative consequences of stress has been a particularly influential one. Most of the relevant research has focused on the impact of life events as measured through the standard life‐event inventory methodology. Such research has lacked a sociological character in that the structural contexts of people's lives are treated as if they were extraneous to the stress process. In this paper I have drawn on the sociological literature relating to the conceptualisation and measurement of poverty in order to situate the stress process in the context of people's location within an unequal distribution of resources. The measure of chronic stress which is employed is based on enforced absence of socially defined necessities. Exposure to such stress is the primary determinant of psychological distress. Both instrumental and emotional support, however, serve to buffer the effects of extreme life‐style deprivation.