Do social comparison and coping styles play a role in the development of burnout? Cross‐sectional and longitudinal findings

The present longitudinal research among 558 teachers focused on the role of upward comparisons (with others performing better), downward comparisons (with others performing worse), and coping styles in relation to burnout. Assessed were identification (recognizing oneself in the other) and contrast (seeing the other as a competitor) in upward and downward comparison. Cross‐sectionally, downward identification and upward contrast were positively related to burnout and negatively related to a direct coping style, whereas upward identification was negatively related to burnout and positively related to a direct coping style. Downward identification was positively related to a palliative coping style. Direct and palliative coping styles were independent predictors of burnout: those who reported using a direct coping style had lower levels of burnout and those who reported using a palliative coping style had higher levels of burnout. Longitudinally, the use of a direct coping style was associated with a decrease and downward identification with an increase of burnout over time.     

Emotional and self-evaluative effects of social comparison information in later life: how are they moderated by collective self-esteem?

This study examined how the emotional and self-evaluative effects of social comparison in 162 community-dwelling older people were moderated by individual differences in their collective self-esteem (CSE), a trait that reflects valuing and identifying with reference groups. In our experimental simulation, administered 6 years after participants' CSE was measured, those with higher CSE reported significantly more positive emotions and self-evaluations only after downward comparison (i.e., with a worse-off peer), and significantly more negative emotions only after upward comparison (i.e., with a better-off peer). These findings contradict the possibility that an adaptive advantage of high CSE might result from the propensity to identify strategically with upward comparison targets. However, contrast with downward targets presents a viable alternative explanation for this advantage.     

Application of a stress and coping model to antenatal depressive symptomatology

This study examined the utility of a stress/coping model of antenatal depressive symptomatology. The direct and moderating effects of appraisal, coping resources and coping strategies on depression were explored. A total of 242 primiparous women completed questionnaires during the third trimester of pregnancy. Predictors included life events, coping resources (social support, quality of women's earlier relationships with parents), appraisal (threat, self-efficacy) and coping strategies (wishful thinking, positive reappraisal, problem solving, emotional approach). Results of regression analyses indicated that higher depression was related to higher stressful life events, threat appraisal and wishful thinking coping, and lower positive reappraisal coping. The expected stress exacerbation effects of wishful thinking on depression were supported. There was no support for the expected stress buffering effects of coping resources and coping strategies on depression. Findings provide preliminary support for the use of a stress/coping model to guide future research into psychosocial predictors of antenatal depression.     

Burnout, Uncertainty, and the Desire for Social Comparison Among Nurses

A study was conducted among 295 nurses to examine the interest in social comparison information, that is, the desire to learn more about the feelings and responses of others facing a similar situation. Occupational burnout, in particular emotional exhaustion, reduced personal accomplishment and uncertainty, had independent relationships with the interest in social comparison information. Comparison preferences were strongly upward; there was in general a stronger preference for information about others who were better off than for affiliation with such others. There was also a stronger preference for comparison with more experienced than with more competent others. However, better-off others were avoided relatively more by those high in burnout, especially by those high in reduced personal accomplishment. The results are discussed in the context of social comparison as a way of coping with stress, and self-improvement and self-protection as motives for social comparison.     

Women's Reactions to Miscarriage: The Role of Attributions,Coping Styles,and Knowledge1

This study examined 72 women's retrospectively reported reactions to miscarriage, including depression, stress, and anxiety. The buffering role of women's attributional explanations for the event, the significance of the loss of the baby, coping strategies, and women's knowledge of miscarriage were also assessed. Correlational analyses revealed that women's attributions were tied to their reactions, in that the more women blamed their own character or doctor, the more severely they reacted. Coping strategies accounted for a large portion of the variance (64%), whereby women who used cognitive restructuring as a strategy suffered less adverse reactions than did those who used social withdrawal or wishrul thinking. Women's knowledge before miscarriage, rather than after, accounted for 6% of the variance in their reactions. Examining the interrelations of these variables revealed that the amount of women's knowledge before miscarriage was related to less wishful thinking, and their knowledge after the event was related to less problem avoidance. Women's attributions were also related to their coping strategies: Blaming one's character, behavior, or doctor were positively related to self-criticism and social withdrawal, and negatively related to support from doctors and significant others. The implications of these findings for interventions to facilitate adjustment to miscarriage and future research are discussed.     

Relation between perceived scholastic competence and social comparison mechanisms among elementary school children

According to the literature, among social comparison mechanisms, identification with an upward target would be the most frequent mechanism that students report to use. However, it remains unclear how the identification and the contrast mechanisms contribute to the construction of pupils’ scholastic perceived competence. The aim of this study was to test the two following hypotheses: (1) the more pupils report using downward identification and upward contrast, the lower their perceived scholastic competence; (2) the more pupils report using upward identification and downward contrast, the higher their perceived scholastic competence will be. Three hundred and eighty French-speaking pupils (147 fourth graders and 233 fifth graders) from public elementary schools in the district of Grenoble (France) were met in their school. Pupils responded to a standardized mental ability test and to a questionnaire about their perceived scholastic competence and their utilization of social comparison mechanisms: upward and downward identification and upward and downward contrast. Boys and girls differed on some of the social comparison mechanisms. However, the two hypotheses were confirmed and hold true for both boys and girls. Findings show that beyond the contribution of cognitive abilities, pupils’ responsiveness to these mechanisms contributed to the development of their perceived scholastic competence. One educational implication is the usefulness of analyzing the processes of social comparison as strategies to allow pupils to maintain a positive perception of their scholastic competence.     

The affective consequences of social comparison: either direction has its ups and downs

Research on social comparison processes has assumed that a comparison in a given direction (upward or downward) will lead to a particular affective reaction. In contrast, the present two studies proposed and found that a comparison can produce either positive or negative feelings about oneself, independent of its direction. Several factors moderated the tendency to derive positive or negative affect from upward and downward comparisons. In Study 1, cancer patients low in self-esteem and with low perceived control over their symptoms and illness were more likely to see downward comparisons as having negative implications for themselves. Those low in self-esteem were also more likely to perceive upward comparisons as negative. In Study 2, individuals with high marital dissatisfaction and those who felt uncertain about their marital relationship were more likely to experience negative affect from upward and downward comparisons. The implications of these findings for social comparison theory and for the coping and adaptation literature are discussed.     

Neuroticism and social comparison orientation as moderators of affective responses to social comparison at work

In a study among 72 nurses, the affective consequences of social comparison were examined and related to neuroticism (N) and to social comparison orientation (SCO). Participants were confronted with a bogus interview with an upward versus a downward comparison target. Positive affect and identification were higher, and negative affect was lower, in the upward than in the downward comparison condition. Independent of their SCO, the higher individuals were in N, the less they identified with the upward comparison target, the more they identified with the downward comparison target, and the less positive affect they showed following confrontation with the upward comparison target. In contrast, independent of their level of N, the higher individuals were in SCO, the more negative affect they showed following confrontation with the downward comparison target. The effects on negative affect stayed the same when controlling for positive affect, and the effects on positive affect stayed the same when controlling for negative affect. These effects were also obtained when perceived direction was used as a predictor instead of the experimentally manipulated direction. It is concluded that, although N and SCO are correlated, these variables seem to have independent and distinct effects upon the responses to social comparison information.     

Antecedents and consequences of the frequency of upward and downward social comparisons at work

The current paper examines the dispositional and situational antecedents, as well as the attitudinal and behavioral consequences, of the frequency of upward and downward social comparisons. We predicted social comparison frequency would be influenced by uncertainty-related antecedents, and that social comparisons in organizations would be characterized by contrast, not assimilation, effects. A large and occupationally diverse sample of 991 employed adults was surveyed at three separate points in time over a 12–16 week period. Our results, based on structural equation modeling, indicated that (a) role ambiguity, task autonomy, and core self-evaluations were significant predictors of upward social comparison, (b) upward social comparison was significantly negatively related to job satisfaction and affective commitment, (c) downward social comparison was significantly positively related to job satisfaction and affective commitment, and (d) upward and downward social comparisons had significant positive and negative indirect effects on the frequency of job search behaviors, respectively. The findings are discussed in terms of their general implications for understanding the importance of directional social comparison processes in organizational settings.     

大鱼小池效应研究回顾及展望

大鱼小池效应(Big Fish Little Pond Effect)是解释不同教育情境中学生自我概念水平的一个特定概念,Marsh将其定义为：能力同等的学生,在平均成绩较高的学校或班级里的学业自我概念较低,而在平均成绩较低的学校或班级则学业自我概念会较高。大鱼小池效应包括学生采用概括他人和特定他人的比较标准所分别产生的同化效应和对比效应,社会比较对学业自我概念形成具有特定影响。大鱼小池效应的未来研究可以从研究方法的改进、调节变量的控制和跨文化比较等方面拓展。     

Downward Comparison in Infertile Couples

The tendency of infertile individuals to compare themselves favorably to others with regard to coping efficacy was examined among 61 women and 52 men, including 52 husband-wife pairs. Comparison targets were same-sex infertile others and the spouse. Eighty-three percent of men, but only 45% of women, believed that they were coping better than same-sex others (i.e.,downward comparison). Both men (51%) and women (47%) tended to see no difference between their own and their spouses' coping efficacy. However, comparing themselves to their spouses, men in general compared downward, whereas women compared upward. For both same-sex and spouse comparisons, husbands were significantly more likely to engage in downward comparison than their partners. Analyses testing the correlates of downward comparison revealed that (a) infertile participants who were more likely to engage in downward comparison felt less threatened by infertility, (b) no association emerged between comparison indices and self-esteem, and (c) downward same-sex comparison was more likely for men who had been attempting conception for a longer period.     

The influence of coping styles on mammography screening in a multiethnic sample

A total of 308 women from seven ethnic subpopulations (comprising major ethnic groups of Black, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic White) were interviewed to examine their coping styles in response to an imagined breast cancer diagnosis and to determine relationships among ethnicity, access to mammography, coping styles, and mammography screening. There were ethnic subpopulation differences in the five coping styles identified (problem solving, social support, positive reframing, wishful thinking, and avoidance), and in the relations between screening rates and coping styles. Specifically, ethnicity differentially moderated the relationship between screening rates and avoidance within and between major groups. Researchers studying behavior that is likely to be impacted by culture, such as health preventive behaviors, are well advised to take coping styles into account, as well as to examine potential ethnic subpopulation differences.     

Social comparison processes and catastrophising in fibromyalgia: A path analysis

Introduction: In addition to coping strategies, social comparison may play a role in illness adjustment. However, little is known about the role of contrast and identification in social comparison in adaptation to fibromyalgia.

Aim: To evaluate through a path analysis in a sample of fibromyalgia patients, the association between identification and contrast in social comparison, catastrophising and specific health outcomes (fibromyalgia illness impact and psychological distress).

Material and Method: 131 Spanish fibromyalgia outpatients (mean age: 50.15, SD = 11.1) filled out a questionnaire.

Results: We present a model that explained 33% of the variance in catastrophising by direct effects of more use of upward contrast and downward identification. In addition, 35% of fibromyalgia illness impact variance was explained by less upward identification, more upward contrast and more catastrophising and 42% of the variance in psychological distress by a direct effect of more use of upward contrast together with higher fibromyalgia illness impact.

Discussion: We suggest that intervention programmes with chronic pain and fibromyalgia patients should focus on enhancing the use of upward identification in social comparison, and on minimising the use of upward contrast and downward identification in social comparison.     

An Attributional Analysis of Social Accounts: Implications of Playing the Blame Game1

These studies proposed that effective social accounts should contain external, unstable, specific, and uncontrollable attributions. In Study I, managers provided accounts for a negative event. The accounts contained highly unstable and specific attributions but, contrary to original predictions, they also contained highly internal and controllable attributions. In Study 2, managers rated the effectiveness of the account. Account effectiveness was positively related to unstable attributions, but was negatively related to external and uncontrollable attributions. These relationships were stronger (more negative) for accounts communicated downward than upward. These results indicate that blaming others or deflecting personal responsibility for negative events may be ineffective, especially when one is in a high‐status role.     

Compared to What? The Importance of Control Groups in Social Comparison Research

Two experiments demonstrate the importance of control groups in social comparison research. When comparing to downward targets leads to more favorable self-evaluations than comparing to upward targets, results are often interpreted as demonstrating bidirectional contrast effects. However, without a no-comparison control group, these claims cannot be supported. The present experiments provided participants with performance feedback; some participants received information about an upward target, a downward target, or a bidirectional target (one upward, one downward). Results suggest that social comparison effects are not always bidirectional: Downward and bidirectional comparisons led to contrast whereas upward comparisons were not different from the control. Experiment 2 assessed the role of lateral targets. Overall, results suggest that existing interpretations of contrast effects should be reexamined.     

Social comparison as a predictor of changes in burnout among nurses

Abstract

This study addressed the question whether the affect evoked by social comparisons and individual differences in social comparison orientation (SCO) may predict the development of burnout over a period of one year. The participants were 93 nurses (25 males and 68 females) who filled out a questionnaire twice, with an interval of about one year. Comparisons with others performing better than oneself (upward comparisons) were reported to occur more often, to evoke more positive affect, and to invoke less negative affect than comparisons with others performing worse than oneself (downward comparisons). Those who responded at Time 1 (T1) with more positive affect to upward comparison and with less negative affect to downward comparisons, showed a decrease in burnout at Time 2 (T2). In addition, those who responded with relatively more negative affect to upward comparisons at T1, showed an increase in burnout at T2, but only when they were high in SCO. It is concluded that in this population upward comparisons were more prevalent than, and evoked more favorable responses than, downward comparisons. The most important conclusion is that the affect evoked by social comparisons may predict future changes in burnout.     

Social comparison activity under threat: downward evaluation and upward contacts

Social comparison processes include the desire to affiliate with others, the desire for information about others, and explicit self-evaluation against others. Previously these types of comparison activity and their corresponding measures have been treated as interchangeable. We present evidence that in certain groups under threat, these comparison activities diverge, with explicit self-evaluation made against a less fortunate target (downward evaluation), but information and affiliation sought out from more fortunate others (upward contacts). These effects occur because downward evaluation and upward contacts appear to serve different needs, the former ameliorating self-esteem and the latter enabling a person to improve his or her situation and simultaneously increase motivation and hope. Implications for the concept, measurement, and theory of social comparison are discussed.     

Social comparison in adjustment to breast cancer

We investigated four theoretical perspectives concerning the role of social comparison (Festinger, 1954) in coping with a threatening event in a sample of breast cancer patients. According to the supercoper perspective, personal contact with comparison others is often unavailable to patients, and contact with media "supercopers"--fellow victims presented as adjusting very smoothly--may make patients feel inadequate by comparison. According to the similarity perspective, patients select comparison targets who are similar to themselves because those comparisons should be the most informative. The upward comparison perspective is predictive of comparisons to relatively advantaged or superior individuals. The downward comparison perspective leads to the prediction that under conditions of threat, individuals make comparisons to people who are inferior or less fortunate in order to enhance their self-esteem. We interviewed 78 breast cancer patients, and results of both closed-ended questions and spontaneously offered comparisons yielded a preponderance of downward comparisons. The results point to the value of using naturalistic methods for studying comparisons, and suggest a more active and cognitive role for social comparison than is usually portrayed.     

Coping, Conflictual Social Interactions, Social Support, and Mood Among HIV-Infected Persons

This study considers the interrelationships among coping, conflictual social interactions, and social support, as well as their combined associations with positive and negative mood. Research has shown that each of these variables affects adjustment to stressful circumstances. Few studies, however, examine this full set of variables simultaneously. One hundred forty HIV-infected persons completed a questionnaire containing measures of coping, social support, conflictual social interactions, and positive and negative mood. Factor analyses showed that perceived social support and conflictual social interactions formed separate factors and were not strongly related. Compared to perceived social support, social conflict was more strongly related to coping behaviors, especially to social isolation, anger, and wishful thinking. Conflictual social interactions were more strongly related to negative mood than was perceived social support. Coping by withdrawing socially was significantly related to less positive and greater negative mood. The findings point to the importance of simultaneously considering coping, supportive relationships, and conflictual relationships in studies of adjustment to chronic illness. In particular, a dynamic may occur in which conflictual social interactions and social isolation aggravate each other and result in escalating psychological distress.