Impact of social support on health status and life satisfaction in people with a spinal cord injury

Abstract

Purpose: Assessment of the impact of received social support on functional health status and life satisfaction in people with spinal cord injury (SCI). Design: Respondents were 176 people with SCI between 18 and 65 years of age and living in the community. Mean time after injury was 3.6 years. Problem-oriented and emotion-oriented support, received from family members, friends and relatives, and professionals were assessed with the Sources of Social Support Inventory. Health status was assessed with the Sickness Impact Profile 68 and life satisfaction with the Life Satisfaction Questionnaire. Structural equation modelling with LISREL V8 was used to study relationships of different types and sources of social support with health status and life satisfaction.Results: Emotion-oriented support led to better psychological functioning and to greater life satisfaction. In addition, emotion-oriented support from the family led to greater satisfaction with relationships and emotion-oriented support from friends and acquaintances led to less satisfaction with social life. Problem-oriented support was not clearly related to health status and life satisfaction; there was only a negative relation between problem-oriented support and satisfaction with social life. Support, problem-oriented or emotion-oriented, from health-care professionals showed no relationships with health status or life satisfaction.Conclusions: Emotion-oriented support from family members and friends was most important for people with SCI. Greater problem-oriented support appears to be related to poorer life satisfaction.     

You are my happiness: Socially enriched happiness belief predicts life satisfaction,especially among the poor

ABSTRACT

What three words come to your mind in response to “happiness”? Using a free-association task [cf. Nelson, D. L., McEvoy, C. L., & Dennis, S. (2000). What is free association and what does it measure? Memory and Cognition, 28, 887–899], this research finds that the number of social words (e.g. family, love) provided in link to happiness predicts people’s actual life satisfaction level. However, this association was significantly moderated by the person’s self-perceived financial state. The contingency between holding a socially-oriented belief about happiness and experienced life satisfaction was significant among members of low socioeconomic status (SES), but not among the high SES group. This pattern was replicated across two divergent samples (Asian college students, Study 1; American adults, Study 2), regardless of one’s extraversion level (Studies 1, 2) and availability of social support (number of friends, Study 2). Given the overlapping function of money and social relationships (instrumental in promoting survival), believing in the social nature of happiness seems to be more central in the life satisfaction of those with less financial resource.     

Young Group Identification and Motives as Predictors of Ageism,Aging Anxiety,and Life Satisfaction

Abstract

The present study examined young group identification and young group motives (i.e., self-esteem, distinctiveness, belonging, meaning, efficacy, and continuity) as predictors of ambivalent ageism, stereotyping of older people, aging anxiety, and life satisfaction among Turkish university students. Participants (N?=?226) completed scales measuring age group identification, social identity motives, ambivalent ageism, stereotyping of older people, aging anxiety, and life satisfaction. Multiple hierarchical regression analyses showed that belonging to a young group was a significant predictor for ambivalent ageism. Young group identification and meaning were significant predictors for negative stereotyping of older people. Young group self-esteem was a significant predictor for aging anxiety. Young group identification, self-esteem, and meaning were significant predictors for life satisfaction. None of the independent variables was a significant predictor for positive stereotyping of older people.     

Perceived stress and everyday memory complaints among older adult women

Abstract

Memory complaints among older adults are often influenced by depression and anxiety, but the association of stress to memory complaints has received little attention. We examined the associations of perceived stress, life events, and activity level to everyday memory complaints among healthy older women, while controlling for the influence of depression and anxiety. Participants (N=54) completed self-report questionnaires on memory complaints, perceived stress, recent life events, activity level, depression, and anxiety. Partial correlation analyses indicated that higher levels of perceived stress were associated with higher levels of memory complaints when controlling for the influence of depression and anxiety, but that life events and activity level were not related to memory complaints. This study highlights that perceived stress, like depression and anxiety, is a psychological factor that influences the appraisal of cognitive ability; however, larger and more heterogeneous samples will be needed to better understand the multifactorial nature of memory complaints in older adulthood.     

The relationships between religiosity,prosociality, satisfaction with life and generalised anxiety: a study on Turkish Muslims

ABSTRACT

The reason for research on Muslim samples is the perceived weakness in existing measures of prosocial behaviours. The current study's three aims are: Developing a suitable prosociality scale, examining the links between religiosity, prosociality, anxiety, and satisfaction with life, and investigating the mediating roles of anxiety and prosociality on the link between religiosity and satisfaction with life. The sample consists of 678 Turkish Muslims, 428 females and 250 males, ranged from 14 to 56, with mean age of 31 (SD?=?8,973). In the current study, the Individual Religion Inventory, the Turkish Prosociality Scale (TPS), the Satisfaction with Life Scale, and the Generalised Anxiety Scale are applied to the sample. Findings of the correlation matrix indicated positive correlations between religiosity, prosociality and satisfaction with life, and demonstrated that anxiety is related negatively to religiosity and life satisfaction. According to the path analysis, prosociality and anxiety mediate the link between religiosity and satisfaction with life.     

Personality,life events and the course of anxiety and depression

Using data from the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety, we examined among 1322 participants with a DSM‐IV diagnosis of depression or anxiety: (i) whether positive and negative life events influence 1‐year course of anxiety and depressive symptoms; (ii) whether personality traits (neuroticism and extraversion) predict symptom course and moderate the impact of life events on symptom course; and (iii) whether life events mediate relationships of neuroticism and extraversion with symptom course. Negative life events were predictive of both anxiety and depressive symptoms, while positive life events predicted the course of depressive symptoms only. Personality traits had significant predictive and moderating effects on symptom course, though these effects were rather small. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Life events,social support and depression in haemodialysis patients

This study examined the effects of life events and social support on depression in 200 dialysis patients. The instruments used included the Beck Depression Inventory, a modified version of Sarason's Life Experiences Survey and a Social Support Inventory (SSI) constructed by the authors. The SSI consisted of five quantitative measures and three measures of perceived social support. These measures were found to be internally consistent and stable over time. Results showed that clinically depressed dialysis patients reported fewer positive life events and appraised life events more negatively than non‐depressed patients. The total number of life events and the number of negative life events were not found to differentiate between depressed and non‐depressed patients. With regard to social support variables, results showed that depressed patients reported less frequent actual contact and telephone contact with others and perceived a smaller amount and less availability of social support and less satisfaction with perceived social support along the functional dimensions of emotional, informational, appraisal and instrumental support and social companionship. The results were found to provide support for a main effect model of social support and not for a buffering model. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Negative life events and symptoms of depression and anxiety: stress causation and/or stress generation

Background and Objectives: Stressful life events are known to contribute to development of depression; however, it is possible this link is bidirectional. The present study examined whether such stress generation effects are greater than the effects of stressful life events on depression, and whether stress generation is also evident with anxiety. Design: Participants were two large age cohorts (N = 732 aged 44 years; N = 705 aged 63 years) from the West of Scotland Twenty-07 study. Methods: Stressful life events, depression, and anxiety symptoms were measured twice five years apart. Cross-lagged panel analysis examined the mutual influences of stressful life events on depression and on anxiety over time. Results: Life events predicted later depressive symptomatology (p = .01), but the depression predicting life events relationship was less strong (p = .06), whereas earlier anxiety predicted life events five years later (p = .001). There was evidence of sex differences in the extent to which life events predicted later anxiety. Conclusions: This study provides evidence of stress causation for depression and weaker evidence for stress generation. In contrast, there was strong evidence of stress generation for anxiety but weaker evidence for stress causation, and that differed for men and women.     

Teammate social support,burnout, and self-determined motivation in collegiate athletes

ObjectiveThere is limited understanding of how specific components of social support are associated with athlete burnout and self-determined motivation, as most investigations have exclusively targeted overall support satisfaction. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine if perceived support availability and received support, over and above support satisfaction, were associated with these correlates of psychological well-being in athletes. We also examined potential team-level variation in burnout and self-determined motivation.DesignCross-sectional.MethodUnited States college athletes (N = 235; M_age = 19.8 years) completed reliable and valid assessments of study variables via an online questionnaire.ResultsMultilevel linear modeling showed a lack of team-level variation in burnout and self-determined motivation. Regression analyses showed perceived support availability to be inversely associated with burnout and positively associated with self-determined motivation. This was over and above support satisfaction, which demonstrated the same pattern of associations. Received support did not meaningfully associate with burnout or self-determined motivation over and above support satisfaction.ConclusionResults suggest that the perception of support availability from teammates, regardless of received support, was an important correlate of burnout and self-determined motivation in sport. Also, the general lack of team-level variation in the criterion variables suggests that burnout and self-determined motivation perceptions were largely driven by individual experiences.     

Subjective well-being,social interpretation,and relationship thriving

Social interactions are open to a range of interpretations. We examine the associations among subjective well-being, social interpretations, and social thriving. In Study 1 (N = 276) positive affect (PA) was associated with positive interpretations of neutral faces. In Studies 2 and 3 (Ns = 295, 298) PA and life satisfaction were associated with positive interpretations of ambiguous and positive, but not negative, social interaction vignettes. In Study 4 (N = 501) there were indirect relationships of PA and life satisfaction on social thriving through interpretations. Subjective well-being’s association with social interpretations provides a critical base of support for conclusions from previous methodologically limited mood and social interpretation studies. This work also provides initial evidence for a role of social interpretation tendencies in social thriving.     

Social Anxiety Symptoms and Quality of Life of Secondary School Students of Abha,Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Interest in social anxiety disorder has grown substantially over the past few decades. Most of the available data from United States and European countries emphasized its high prevalence, comorbidity and morbidity and its association with occupational, educational, social affairs, stress, depression and substance use disorder contributing to poor quality of life. Present study was aimed to assess the social anxiety symptoms and to explore its impact on quality of life of secondary school students. Present study included male (n?=?200) and female (n?=?200) students enrolled at government secondary schools, Abha, Saudi Arabia. Arabic version of Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) and World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire (WHOQOL) were implemented to assess the social anxiety symptoms and quality of life of the students. Results revealed that 45% of the students showed social anxiety symptoms. Associated factors were younger age, chronic diseases, parent’s status, parent’s occupation and income. Quality of life was found significantly lower in students with social anxiety symptoms as compared to the students without symptoms. We suggest that the school health program should include routine screening of students for social anxiety disorder. Students diagnosed with social anxiety symptoms should be promptly managed and their quality of life should be improved.     

The two roads from passion to sport performance and psychological well-being: The mediating role of need satisfaction,deliberate practice,and achievement goals

ObjectivesResearch on passion has demonstrated the existence of two roads toward sports performance through the effects of deliberate practice (Vallerand et al., 2007, 2008). The first emanates from harmonious passion (HP) and contributes to both performance and psychological well-being. The second stems from obsessive passion (OP), and performance comes at the cost of well-being. The present research proposes that need satisfaction (Deci & Ryan, 2000) mediates the relation of HP, but not OP, with both outcomes. In Study 2, achievement goals were added to the model. Mastery goals were expected to mediate the positive relation between HP and outcomes, whereas performance-avoidance goals would be associated with OP and, thus be detrimental to athletes.DesignTwo studies using correlational (Study 1) and longitudinal (Study 2) designs.MethodStudy 1 (N = 172) was conducted with soccer players. Study 2 was conducted with hockey players (N = 598). Athletes completed measures of passion, need satisfaction, life satisfaction, deliberate practice, and achievement goals (Study 2 only). Coaches assessed performance in Study 1. Study 2 used games played in competitive leagues over 15 years to measure performance.ResultsAnalyses using SEM provided support for the mediating role of need satisfaction (Study 1 and 2) and achievement goals (Study 2) in the relation of HP with outcomes. In contrast, deliberate practice (Study 1 and 2) meditated the relation between OP and performance.ConclusionsThis research supported the mediating role of need satisfaction in the ‘two roads to performance” (Vallerand et al., 2007, 2008).     

Assessment and Prediction of Stress-Related Growth

This article reports the development of the Stress-Related Growth Scale (SRGS) and its use in a study examining determinants of stress-related positive outcomes for college students. Study 1 analyses showed that the SRGS has acceptable internal and test-retest reliability and that scores are not influenced by social desirability. Study 2 analyses showed that college students' SRGS responses were significantly related to those provided by friends and relatives on their behalf. Study 3 analyses tested the determinants of stress-related growth longitudinally. Significant predictors of the SRGS were (a) intrinsic religiousness; (b) social support satisfaction; (c) stressfulness of the negative event; (d) positive reinterpretation and acceptance coping; and (e) number of recent positive life events. The SRGS was also positively related to residual change in optimism, positive affectivity, number of socially supportive others, and social support satisfaction, lending further support to the validity of this new scale. Results have implications for current theory on stress-related positive outcomes.     

创伤后应激障碍对青少年生活满意度的影响：社会支持的调节作用

采用问卷法对雅安地震2.5年后的397名中学生进行测试,考察创伤后应激障碍及其各维度对生活满意度的影响,并检验社会支持在其中的调节作用。结果发现,侵入性症状、负性认知和情绪改变症状、警觉性增高症状和PTSD总分负向预测生活满意度,回避性症状对生活满意度预测作用不显著;社会支持在警觉性增高症状、回避性症状、PTSD总分与生活满意度之间起调节作用,社会支持在侵入性症状、负性认知和情绪改变症状与生活满意度之间不起调节作用。     

Stress,achievement, marriage and social support: Effects on the psychological well-being of physicians entering midlife/mid-career

Abstract

The major aim of this study was to examine the relative contribution of stress, professional achievement, personality, quality of marriage and family life, social support satisfaction, work satisfaction, average hours worked and family responsibilities to the psychological well-being (life satisfaction and psychological symptoms) of medical practitioners entering mid-life/mid-career. Fifty-nine female and 57 male physicians completed interviews, questionnaires, and daily stress records. The results confirm the central role that stress plays in the well-being of physicians. Pearson correlations and hierarchical multiple regressions showed other major variables examined did not explain additional variance in psychological symptoms, but did in some instances (professional achievement, quality of marriage, social support satisfaction for work issues) contribute to life satisfaction. A path model indicating a direct and independent effect of professional achievement on life satisfaction and a specific causal sequence of stress, quality of marriage and social support satisfaction for work issues is suggested.     

Self-acceptance,resilience, coping and satisfaction of life in people who stutter

PurposeThe purpose of the present study was to evaluate self-acceptance and satisfaction with life with people who stutter and the influence of coping and resilience on the two factors.MethodForty-seven people who stutter (PWS) and 47 people who do not stutter (PWNS) participated in an online survey. Participants completed a survey assessing 6 main areas: (a) background information, (b) satisfaction with life, (c) coping, (d) avoidance, (e) self-acceptance, and resilience.ResultsAvoidant coping and maladaptive coping moderated the association between stuttering and self- acceptance but not satisfaction with life. Resilience was found to moderate the association between stuttering and self-acceptance as well as satisfaction with life.ConclusionStuttering was associated with lower self-acceptance at higher levels of avoidant coping and maladaptive coping. PWS who have lower levels of resilience were more likely to have a lower satisfaction with life indicating that higher levels of resilience could serve as a protective factor for having a greater satisfaction with life. Further, stuttering was associated with lower self-acceptance at lower levels of resilient attitude. Resilience and coping appear to protect against having diminished self-acceptance and satisfaction with life for PWS.     

员工的核心自我评价与多维生活满意度的关系：感知社会支持的中介作用

本研究以245名企业员工为被试,从感知到的不同来源社会支持的角度探索了核心自我评价对员工生活满意度不同领域的作用机制。结果表明：（1）核心自我评价对家庭、朋友、工作和自我满意度均有显著的正向预测作用。（2）家庭支持在核心自我评价与家庭满意度之间起完全中介作用,在核心自我评价与自我满意度之间起部分中介作用;朋友支持在核心自我评价与朋友满意度之间起完全中介作用。研究表明,核心自我评价能直接预测生活满意度中的非关系型领域,能通过各类社会支持分别间接预测生活满意度中的各类关系型满意度。     

Religious support and psychological well-being: gender differences among religious Jewish Israelis

The moderating effect of gender on the relation between religious support and well-being was examined using 334 religious Jewish men and women in Israel. Specifically, social support, religious support (Religious Leader Support (RLS), Religious Community Support (RCS), and G-d Support (GS)), anxiety, and life satisfaction were assessed. All support measures were significantly associated with less anxiety and more life satisfaction. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that all three types of religious support were uniquely related to life satisfaction. For GS and RCS, this unique effect was also found regarding anxiety. As hypothesised, gender moderated the relations between religious support and well-being regarding both RLS and RCS. The relation with life satisfaction was stronger for women in comparison to men, and the reverse was true regarding anxiety. Surprisingly, no moderation by gender was found regarding GS. Findings are discussed regarding the importance of assessing gender in future religious support research.