Perfectionism and health: a mediational analysis of the roles of stress, social support and health-related behaviours

This study tested a model derived from personality theory in which perceived stress, perceived social support, health-risk and health-promotion behaviours mediate the relationship between perfectionism and perceived physical health. A sample of 538 undergraduate students completed a web-based survey assessing multi-dimensional perfectionism, perceived stress, perceived social support, health behaviours, physical health and a scale tapping elements of the five-factor model of personality. Analyses that account for the effects of traits from the five-factor model (e.g., neuroticism, conscientiousness and extraversion) indicated that socially prescribed perfectionism was associated with poorer physical health and this association was fully mediated by higher levels of perceived stress and lower levels of perceived social support. Self-oriented perfectionism was related complexly to health such that it was related to poorer health via higher levels of perceived stress, but was also related to better health via higher levels of perceived social support. Our findings illustrate the need for considering key mediators of the link between perfectionism and poor health outcomes.     

Perfectionism and health: A mediational analysis of the roles of stress,social support and health-related behaviours

This study tested a model derived from personality theory in which perceived stress, perceived social support, health-risk and health-promotion behaviours mediate the relationship between perfectionism and perceived physical health. A sample of 538 undergraduate students completed a web-based survey assessing multi-dimensional perfectionism, perceived stress, perceived social support, health behaviours, physical health and a scale tapping elements of the five-factor model of personality. Analyses that account for the effects of traits from the five-factor model (e.g., neuroticism, conscientiousness and extraversion) indicated that socially prescribed perfectionism was associated with poorer physical health and this association was fully mediated by higher levels of perceived stress and lower levels of perceived social support. Self-oriented perfectionism was related complexly to health such that it was related to poorer health via higher levels of perceived stress, but was also related to better health via higher levels of perceived social support. Our findings illustrate the need for considering key mediators of the link between perfectionism and poor health outcomes.     

Objective determinants of perceived social support

Objective characteristics of people's social networks were examined as determinants of the perceived availability of social support in two populations: elderly adults (n = 50) and mothers of 1-year-olds (n = 71). Number of network members and frequency of contact with network members, computed separately for kin and nonkin were examined as predictors of loneliness, overall social support, and the six components of social support proposed by Weiss (1974). Kin were found to be more effective providers than nonkin of some aspects of social support. Network characteristics were better predictors of perceived social support for the elderly than for the mothers, but a maximum of 30% of the variance in perceived social support was attributable to the objective network characteristics in either sample. It is recommended that future research on the determinants of perceived social support consider actual interpersonal behaviors, their contexts, and personality characteristics that affect the facilitation an interpretation of supportive behaviors.     

Recipient-provider agreement on enacted support, perceived support, and provider personality

This study examined agreement between recipients and providers about social support and personality. One hundred daughter caregivers of a parent with Alzheimer's disease and each caregiver's most important support provider independently reported supportive behaviors provided to caregivers, the perceived supportiveness of the provider, and providers' personality traits. For all indices, agreement was higher for enacted support than for perceived support and personality, which were similar to each other for some, but not all, indices of agreement. These findings support the validity of measures of enacted and perceived support.     

Type D personality, physical symptoms and subjective stress: the mediating effects of coping and social support

Coping style and social support may represent mechanisms to explain the relationship between Type D personality and ill-health. This study investigated whether Type D is associated with physical symptoms and perceived stress in a non-cardiac population, and if these relationships are mediated by coping and social support. In a cross-sectional study, 304 participants (110 males, mean age 22.1 years) completed measures of Type D, physical symptoms, coping, perceived stress and social support. Results showed that Type D, the interaction of negative affectivity and social inhibition (NA × SI), was positively correlated with physical symptoms, perceived stress, and avoidant coping, and negatively correlated with social support, problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping. A series of bootstrapped multiple mediator tests showed that social support and avoidant coping fully mediated the relationship between Type D and physical symptoms. Furthermore, social support and emotion-focused coping partially mediated the relationship between Type D and perceived stress. These findings demonstrate for the first time that Type D personality is associated with physical symptoms in a non-cardiac population. Social support and coping style represent mechanisms that can, in part, explain the relationship between Type D and physical symptoms, and Type D and perceived stress.     

Type D personality,physical symptoms and subjective stress: The mediating effects of coping and social support

Coping style and social support may represent mechanisms to explain the relationship between Type D personality and ill-health. This study investigated whether Type D is associated with physical symptoms and perceived stress in a non-cardiac population, and if these relationships are mediated by coping and social support. In a cross-sectional study, 304 participants (110 males, mean age 22.1 years) completed measures of Type D, physical symptoms, coping, perceived stress and social support. Results showed that Type D, the interaction of negative affectivity and social inhibition (NA?×?SI), was positively correlated with physical symptoms, perceived stress, and avoidant coping, and negatively correlated with social support, problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping. A series of bootstrapped multiple mediator tests showed that social support and avoidant coping fully mediated the relationship between Type D and physical symptoms. Furthermore, social support and emotion-focused coping partially mediated the relationship between Type D and perceived stress. These findings demonstrate for the first time that Type D personality is associated with physical symptoms in a non-cardiac population. Social support and coping style represent mechanisms that can, in part, explain the relationship between Type D and physical symptoms, and Type D and perceived stress.     

Perceptions of Social Support in Men with AIDS and ARC: Relationships with Distress and Hardiness1

Previous research has suggested that social support may act as a buffer against stress or in other ways may affect physiological adjustment, health, longevity, and sense of well-being. Perceptions of social support in persons newly diagnosed with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and AIDS-related Complex (ARC) were examined as a part of an ongoing longitudinal study. Social support was examined in terms of emotionally-sustaining and problem-solving types of help, based on Gottlieb's content analysis of informal helping behaviors. Representative examples of each of the four major categories of help were assessed in terms of their perceived desirability, availability, frequency of use, and usefulness if used. These social support data were then examined in relation to other behavioral, cognitive, affective, and medical indices. For persons with AIDS only, increased physical distress was associated with perceiving less availability of support. For both persons with AIDS and ARC, the more available social support was perceived to be, the less hopelessness and depression were reported. While all types of help were rated as desirable by both persons with AIDS and ARC, emotionally-sustaining types of help were rated as more desirable, more available, more frequently used, and more useful when used than were problem-solving types of help. Social support measures were most consistently and strongly correlated with the Commitment subscale of Kobasa's Hardiness Scale.     

The relationship between self-reported received and perceived social support: A meta-analytic review

Social support is broad term encompassing a variety of constructs, including support perceptions (perceived support) and receipt of supportive behaviors (received support). Of these constructs, only perceived support has been regarded as consistently linked to health, and researchers have offered differing assessments of the strength of the received-perceived support relationship. An overall estimate of the received-perceived support relationship would clearly further the dialogue on the relationship between received and perceived support and thus assist in the theoretical development of the field. This study evaluated all available studies using the Inventory of Socially Supportive Behaviors (ISSB; Barrera, Sandler, & Ramsey, 1981, American Journal of Community Psychology, 9, 435–447) and any measure of perceived social support. Using effect sizes from 23 studies, we found an average correlation of r = .35, p < .001. Implications of this estimate for further development of models of social support as well as interventions to enhance social support are discussed.     

Mental and physical health of spouse caregivers: the role of personality.

Although personal resources of caregivers, such as coping skills and social support, have been shown to be important in understanding caregiver stress and health outcomes, personality traits have not previously been considered. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between the personality traits of neuroticism and dispositional optimism and mental and physical health outcomes. It was predicted that personality would have direct effects, and indirect effects through perceived stress, on health outcomes. Participants were spouse caregivers of patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Results showed that neuroticism and optimism were significantly related to mental and physical health. Furthermore, neuroticism had significant direct effects on all of the health outcomes, and substantial indirect effects, through perceived stress, on mental health outcomes. Optimism showed stronger indirect than direct effects on all health outcomes. These findings demonstrate the importance of including personality of the caregiver in theoretical and empirical models of the caregiving process.     

Effects of pain on functioning and well-being in older adults with osteoarthritis of the knee

The effects of pain on functioning and well-being were examined in 367 older adults with osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. The relationship of OA-related pain to depressive symptoms and perceived health was hypothesized to be direct as well as mediated by physical and social functioning. Results showed that OA-related pain was related to poorer physical and social functioning, had a direct effect on depressive symptoms, and direct and indirect effects on perceived health. Lower social functioning was related to more depressive symptoms, and both lower social and physical functioning predicted worse perceived health. Thus, distinguishing between physical and social functioning when examining the costs of OA-related pain is useful. Moreover, existing pain-psychological well-being models can be generalized to perceived health.     

Social support as a moderator of the relationship between poverty and coping behavior

This study examined the relationship between poverty and coping and defense behaviors and the way social support moderates this relationship. One hundred fifty Indian adults responded to scales of income, perceived economic status, coping, defense and social support. In addition, physical quality of living was rated on the basis of observation and a short interview. Results showed that income and physical quality of living were positively associated with perceived economic status. Income, physical quality of living, and perceived economic status were negatively related to coping and defense behaviors. Finally, social support did not moderate the impact of poverty on coping and defense behaviors.     

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.     

With a little help from my friends: A computational model for the role of social support in mood regulation

The growing interest in the role of social support in mental and physical health has led to the development of several intelligent systems that aim to use social mechanisms to simulate healthy behaviour. In this paper a computational model of a human agent is presented which describes the effect of social support on mood. According to the literature, social support can either refer to the social resources that individuals perceive to be available or to the support that is actually provided in problematic situations. The proposed model distinguishes between both roles of social support. The role of social network characteristics has been taken into account, as an individual can perceive or receive social support through his/her social network. In addition, the number of connections (friends), strength of ties (relationships), social isolation and social integration have been studied. Simulation experiments have been done to analyze the effect of the different types of support in different scenarios and also to analyze the role of various social network characteristics on the mood level. It is shown that support can help to reduce the induced stress and thus can contribute to healthy mood regulation and prevention of depression. The presented model provides a basis for an intelligent support system for people with mood regulation problems that take the social network of people into account.     

Religious Attendance and Social Support: Integration or Selection?

Although numerous studies have shown that religious attendance is associated with greater social support, concerns remain about selection into religious attendance and more supportive relationships. In this paper, we employ data collected from the 2011 Miami-Dade Health Survey (n?=?444) to assess the extent to which the association between religious attendance and social support is due to selection processes related to personality, health behavior, and health status. In our multinomial logistic regression of attendance, we find that the odds of weekly attendance are increased by extraversion and reduced by smoking. We also observe that religious attendance does not vary according to level of agreeableness, self-esteem, alcohol consumption, psychological distress, or physical health. In our regression of support, we find that respondents who attend religious services weekly or more tend to report more social support than respondents who never attend. This association persisted with adjustments for age, gender, race, immigrant status, interview language, education, employment status, household income, financial strain, marital status (parent and respondent), the presence of children, family difficulties, personality (agreeableness, extroversion, and self-esteem), health behavior (smoking, binge drinking, and substance use), and health status (psychological distress, activity limitations, and overall physical health). Across models, the association between weekly attendance and social support is attenuated by no more than 7%. This attenuation is due to personality (extraversion), not health behavior or health status. We conclude that the association between religious attendance and social support is primarily driven by integration processes rather than any selection processes we have considered.

     

SOCIAL SUPPORT NETWORK DIFFERENTIALS AMONG MARRIED AND NONMARRIED BLACK FEMALES

Being married has generally been associated with better mental health for adult females, in part because of the social support derived from a primary network relationship. Without the benefit of a spouse, it would be expected that nonmarried adult females would have fewer sources of social support and concomitantly lower levels of psychological well-being. Focusing on selected network characteristics, this study analyzes the differences in social support available to a sample of 91 married and 183 nonmarried Black females residing in a metropolitan area. Results indicate that having a spouse has little influence on the number of socially supportive relationships or the most important sources of assistance with financial problems. A marital partner is a source of emotional support for married Black females, but only for less than one-third. Family members and extended kin are major sources of social support for Black females, irrespective of marital status.     

Adaptive midlife defense mechanisms and late-life health

A growing body of research suggests that personality characteristics relate to physical health; however, this relationship has primarily been tested in cross-sectional studies that have not followed the participants into old age. The present study utilizes data from a 70-year longitudinal study to prospectively examine the relationship between the adaptive defense mechanisms in midlife and objectively assessed physical health in late life. In addition to examining the direct effect, we test whether social support mediates this relationship. The sample consisted of 90 men who were followed for over seven decades beginning in late adolescence. Health ratings from medical records were made at three time points (ages 70, 75, and 80). Defense mechanisms were coded from narratives by trained independent raters (Vaillant, Bond, & Vaillant, 1986). Independent raters assessed social supports between ages 50 and 70. More adaptive defenses in midlife were associated with better physical health at all three time points in late life. These relationships were partially mediated by social support. Findings are consistent with the theory that defense maturity is important for building social relationships, which in turn contribute to better late-life physical health. Psychological interventions aimed at improving these domains may be beneficial for physical health.     

青少年的人格特征与互联网信息服务使用的关系

互联网上的信息服务为青少年的个性化学习提供了可能,如何使青少年健康地进行网上冲浪,使他们在冲浪的过程中增强自律意识,就需要我们深入地了解互联网信息服务在哪些方面能够满足青少年的需要。该研究通过对339名中学生进行问卷调查,对青少年的人格特征、社会支持与互联网信息服务之间的关系进行了探讨,结果表明:(1)开放性、客观社会支持和对社会支持的利用对互联网信息服务的使用偏好有直接而显著的影响。(2)宜人性和外向性通过社会支持的三个方面间接地对互联网信息服务的使用偏好产生影响。(3)客观社会支持会影响主观社会支持,主观社会支持对社会支持的利用水平也有影响。     

Role of personality and affect on the social support and work family conflict relationship

The relationship between support and work family conflict has been studied extensively, but previous studies have not examined if personality moderates this relationship. In this research, we examine the moderating influence of personality on the relationship between contextual support and work-family conflict across two studies. In Study 1, we examine if core self-evaluations (CSE) moderate the relationship between four different types of workplace support, 1. family friendly work policies (FFOP), 2. family supportive organizational climate (FSOC), 3. perceived organizational support (POS), and 4. perceived supervisor support (PSS), and work interfering with family conflict (WIF) using a sample of working adults (N=435). In Study 2, we examine if Big Five personality traits and negative affect moderate the relationship between co-worker support and (WIF) using a large national sample (N=1130) of working respondents from the “midlife in the US” (MIDUS) study of health and well-being. Taken together, the current research examines the moderating effect of several key personality variables on the relationship between important forms of social support and work family conflict. Results based on these two samples indicate CSE moderates the relationship between POS and WIF, and PSS and WIF, but does not moderate the relationship between FFOP and WIF, or FSOC and WIF. Further, conscientiousness and agreeableness moderate the relationship between co-worker support and WIF. Co-worker support and WIF is stronger for individuals with higher levels of negative affect. We discuss the implications for research and practice relating to work family conflict.     

Residential density and psychological health: the mediating effects of social support

People report excessive, unwanted social interactions, insufficient privacy, and are observed to be more socially withdrawn under crowded living conditions. If people socially withdraw from one another as a way to cope with crowding, this could lead to an unintended side effect of breakdowns in socially supportive relationships. A breakdown in socially supportive relationships could, in turn, account for some of the pathological consequences of chronic, high density living conditions. An empirical study of 175 male heads of household among inner city residents in India suggests that the adverse effects of residential crowding on psychological health are mediated by a breakdown of social support systems. The study also points to the value of examining social support as an endogenous variable in the stress and health process.     

初中生的社会支持与人格的关系

采用问卷法对432名初中生主观感知的社会支持、外界提供的社会支持与人格之间的关系进行研究,结果表明：（1）在大多数维度上,主观感知的社会支持与外界提供的相应支持及人格有显著的正相关。（2）人格类型不同的初中生主观感知的社会支持有显著差异。（3）人格的谨慎性和开放性、外界提供的社会支持对主观感知的社会支持有显著的正向预测作用;谨慎性和外向性对外界提供的社会支持有显著的正向预测作用。