Social psychology of mental health: the social structure and personality perspective

Previous research has revealed a persistent association between social structure and mental health. However, most researchers have focused only on the psychological and psychosocial aspects of that relationship. The present paper indicates the need to include the social and structural bases of distress in our theoretical models. Starting from a general social and psychological model, our research considered the role of several social, environmental, and structural variables (social position, social stressors, and social integration), psychological factors (self-esteem), and psychosocial variables (perceived social support). The theoretical model was tested working with a group of Spanish participants (N = 401) that covered a range of social positions. The results obtained using structural equation modeling support our model, showing the relevant role played by psychosocial, psychological and social, and structural factors. Implications for theory and intervention are discussed.     

Student mental health: the case studies

University life can precipitate a chain of unfortunate reactions. Stressors and the effects which stress can have on an individual could vary considerably. There are a number of theories of stress. The case studies were an attempt to study in detail the specific stressors and problems suffered by 16 students from the Professions Allied to Medicine. They were part of a larger sample of 45 and previous to that an original sample of 210. Students were tested and retested after an 18-month period using a number of measures. The results showed no definitive pattern but resulted in a volume of information from which conclusions may be drawn. On the whole, coping resources were poor. There was a high level of physiological and psychological symptoms to the point of ‘caseness’ in the GHQ30. There was no association between stress levels and coping nor personalities and emotional indications. Entrance qualifications and final examination results were closely related. What enabled those students with abnormally high clinically indicated psychiatric profiles to complete the course with such outstanding academic results? Answers may lie in theories of activation, motivation, arousal and inhibition illustrated in a model of student mental health.     

Infants' social withdrawal and parents' mental health

This study examined the association of infants' sustained social withdrawal with parents' self-reported current depressive symptoms and perceived mental health. Two hundred and sixty infants aged 4, 8 and 18 months were examined with the Baby Alarm Distress Scale (ADBB). Parents' depressive symptoms and perceived mental health during the preceding year were elicited through questionnaires. Mother's current depressive symptoms and father's perceived moderate or poor mental health during the preceding year both independently increased the infant's risk of withdrawal. When both parents had mental health problems, the infant was more likely to be withdrawn. Infant's social withdrawal should alert clinicians to examine parental mental health. Also, if the parent has mental health problems, the infant's social behavior and possible withdrawal should be examined. Families where both parents experience poor mental health should be identified, and treated, while the infants of these families in particular seem to be at risk for social withdrawal.     

Relations between social and emotional competence and mental health: a construct validation study

Researchers working fairly independently of each other have created numerous measures of social and emotional competence (SEC). These measures tend to correlate (sometimes highly) with each other and with measures of stressful events, suggesting potential redundancy. We evaluated which, if any, SEC variables predicted unique variance in social and mental health after controlling for other SEC variables in the study and the impact of stressful events. Three-hundred and thirty-one university students participated in an anonymous, cross-sectional study. We measured stressful events, and a wide variety of SECs, including: social problem solving skill (effective problem orientation, automatic processing, and problem solving), alexithymia (difficulty identifying and describing emotions; minimising emotions), effective emotional control (low rumination, high impulse control, high aggression control, low defensive inhibiting of emotions), and level of emotional awareness. We also assessed a variety of aspects of social and mental health (e.g. depression, anxiety, hopelessness, suicidal ideation, life satisfaction, social support). Covariance analyses revealed that all SEC measures except minimising emotions had significant incremental value over the other measures and over stressful events in predicting social and mental health. The optimal set of predictors differed depending upon the type of health predicted. These findings have important implications for the design of social and emotional intervention programs.     

Sexual assault history and use of health and mental health services

A history of sexual assault may be associated with increased current use of mental health and medical services because of the psychologically and physically disruptive consequences of assault. To test this hypothesis, we estimated rates of mental health and medical services use among 2560 randomly selected community residents, 343 of whom had been sexually assaulted. Sexual assault was associated with seeking both forms of care. Controls for demographic variables, psychiatric diagnosis, health status, and insurance suggested that assault increases use indirectly, through poor mental and physical health. Uninsured, assaulted respondents were especially likely to consult medical providers. Respondents assaulted during childhood were particularly likely to seek mental health care. Assault was more common among mental health service users than nonusers, and among women using medical services compared to female nonpatients. The high prevalence of assault among service users underscores the need for providers to recognize and treat sexual assault-related problems.     

Race,social relationships,and mental health

Researchers often assume that the extent, quality, and effectiveness of personal relationships explain why African Americans have relatively good mental health despite experiencing high levels of stress. This study tests this assumption using data from the 1990–1992 National Comorbidity Survey. Few racial differences emerge in patterns of social relationships, and the nature and quality of social relationships do not explain African Americans’ resiliency on mental health. Several aspects of social relationships benefit African Americans’ mental health more than Whites’, but these moderating effects are insubstantial. Hence, the data do not support the assumption. If social relationships help explain the lack of racial differences in mental health, their nature and effects must be more adequately conceptualized.     

The development of a mental health coalition: A case study

Described the development of a local-level mental health coalition to advocate for housing and community support programs for psychiatric consumer/survivors. Resource mobilization theory was used as a framework from which to view and understand the origins, goals, tactics, and outcomes of the coalition. Data were presented indicating that the coalition played a role in obtaining increased funding for housing and community support programs. Also, there was an emphasis on consumer/survivor and family participation in the change process. Benefits and limitations of the coalition after 6 years of operation were reviewed and compared with other advocacy coalitions in mental health. Thanks to Wendy Czarny, Peter Dunn, Mary Earls, John Lord, Ken Parsons, Isaac Prilleltensky, Harvey Simmons, and the reviewers for their helpful suggestions on earlier drafts of this paper.     

Risky families: family social environments and the mental and physical health of offspring

Risky families are characterized by conflict and aggression and by relationships that are cold, unsupportive, and neglectful. These family characteristics create vulnerabilities and/or interact with genetically based vulnerabilities in offspring that produce disruptions in psychosocial functioning (specifically emotion processing and social competence), disruptions in stress-responsive biological regulatory systems, including sympathetic-adrenomedullary and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical functioning, and poor health behaviors, especially substance abuse. This integrated biobehavioral profile leads to consequent accumulating risk for mental health disorders, major chronic diseases, and early mortality. We conclude that childhood family environments represent vital links for understanding mental and physical health across the life span.     

Quality of social support in mental and physical health

The current study investigates the relationship between social support and mental and physical health. Results indicate that poor functional support (or quality of support) is related to physical health problems while structural support (or social network size) is not. Moreover, although both poor functional and structural support are related to depression and anxiety, functional support is more strongly related to these outcome variables, the strongest relationship being associated with depression. Depression and hostility are also related to social isolation, although the relationship is again stronger for depression. The results suggest that the quality of social relationships is more important than quantity for optimal mental and physical health. The clinical relevance of these findings is that the quality of social support in the lives of individuals is central to recovery and should be addressed in medical and mental health treatment planning whenever it is an etiological or maintaining factor. The author dedicates this paper to her beloved father, Charles VanderVoort and her colleagues Dr. Uwe Stuecher and Dr. Gay Barfield whom she describes as “natural altruists, the rarest and most loving type of people in the world.”     

Continuity and innovation in the history of political science: The case of Charles Merriam

Charles Merriam has been characteristically treated, in historical accounts of American political science, as effecting a radical break with the nineteenth-century tradition and with the historicism that characterized the Columbia school from which he emerged. Although it would be a mistake to depreciate his contribution to subsequent political science, we misunderstand both Merriam and the contemporary discipline if we project images of the present on his work and fail to see the degree to which he embraced both the form and content of the study of politics initiated by his teachers William Dunning and John Burgess.     

Migrant mental health: a model for indicators of mental health and health care consumption.

OBJECTIVE: This study explores the relationship between mental health and health care consumption among migrants in the Netherlands. DESIGN: Samples of the Turkish (n = 648), Moroccan (n = 102), and Surinamese (n = 311) populations in Amsterdam were examined. The study tested a hypothesized model of risk factors for psychiatric morbidity, indicators of well-being, and indicators of health care consumption. The model was specified on the basis of information from earlier research on the sample and literature on the topic. The model was tested and refined using structural equation modeling. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Psychiatric morbidity and well-being measures were assessed with the CIDI 1.1 and MOS-sf-36 subscales, respectively. Health care consumption was assessed by the question "Have you ever consulted one or more of these professionals or health care facilities with respect to mental health problems or problems related to alcohol or drugs usage?" RESULTS: The primary result of this study was the confirmation that health care consumption among migrants is predicted by need and predisposition factors, such as health condition and sociodemographic characteristics. In addition, mental health care consumption of migrants is predicted by acculturation characteristics. This result suggests an effect of cultural and migrant-specific factors in help-seeking behavior and barriers to mental health care facilities. CONCLUSIONS: Findings confirm the existence of migrant-specific mechanisms in health care consumption. Mental health care professionals should be aware of these. However, ignoring common ground for interventions unnecessarily creates distance between migrant groups and between migrant and indigenous Dutch groups.     

Relational regulation theory: a new approach to explain the link between perceived social support and mental health

Perceived support is consistently linked to good mental health, which is typically explained as resulting from objectively supportive actions that buffer stress. Yet this explanation has difficulty accounting for the often-observed main effects between support and mental health. Relational regulation theory (RRT) hypothesizes that main effects occur when people regulate their affect, thought, and action through ordinary yet affectively consequential conversations and shared activities, rather than through conversations about how to cope with stress. This regulation is primarily relational in that the types of people and social interactions that regulate recipients are mostly a matter of personal taste. RRT operationally defines relationships quantitatively, permitting the clean distinction between relationships and recipient personality. RRT makes a number of new predictions about social support, including new approaches to intervention.     

Disciplining social psychology: a case study of boundary relations in the history of the human sciences

This paper explores the disciplinary status of social psychology through an analysis of the history of the boundary relations of psychology, sociology, and social psychology. After outlining some research on the nature of scientific disciplines, on the role of rhetoric in the constitution of disciplines, and on "boundary work," I consider the singular importance of social psychology as a discipline for the analysis of boundary relations, examining its units of analysis and its "disciplining." The boundaries of the disciplines of social psychology were seen as fluid, contingent, local, and contestable, reflecting the thematic preoccupations, disciplinary origins, and meta-theoretical commitments of social psychologists, of the parent disciplines, and of those who represent disciplinary practices.     

Infant day care: A social and psychological perspective on mental health implications

A review of infant group daycare programs abroad and in the USA leads to the conclusion that the degree of industrial and technological development is a major determinant of infant daycare practices. In the USA a culture gap exists between the middle class providers and the predominantly poor and non-caucasion recipients of the service. Difficulties in implementing programs, especially in transmitting child development information to parents stem from these basically different orientations. Some suggestions are made that may lead to more effective communication and collaboration between families using daycare personnel.     

Social desirability,adequacy of social support and mental health

The extent to which the association between satisfaction with social support and mental health was due to social desirability was determined. Whether this association differed between those high and low on social desirability was also examined. Measures consisted of the Crowne – Marlowe Scale, the Adequacy of Social Integration and Attachment Indices, the General Health Questionnaire, the Zung Self‐Rating Depression Scale and four scales from the Delusions‐Symptoms‐States Inventory. The sample comprised 132 women and 93 men randomly drawn from a larger sample of 756 selected at random from the Canberra electoral roll. Although social desirability was positively associated with satisfaction with social support and mental health, the association between mental health and satisfaction with social support was little reduced when social desirability was controlled, indicating that social desirability did not account for the association between social support and mental health. The association between satisfaction with social support and mental health did not differ between those high and low in social desirability, suggesting that this association was not moderated by social desirability. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.