Why is the receipt of social support associated with increased psychological distress? an examination of three hypotheses

Abstract

Although there is a great deal of research linking social support with favourable psychological well-being outcomes a number of contradictory findings have been published showing support to be associated with increased psychological distress. These contrary findings arise when social support is measured as the receipt of supportive behavior rather than perceptions of support availability and quality. This paper examines three hypotheses that have been advanced to explain why the receipt of support is associated with distress. The first of these hypotheses (the support mobilisation hypothesis) argues that the relationship is a spurious one, and that it is a product of distressing circumstances which increase both support receipt and psychological distress. The other two hypotheses (the inequity hypothesis and the esteem threat hypothesis) both argue that receiving support actually causes distress. We tested these hypotheses in two samples. One sample was a group of individuals who reported having some form of disability (N = 106). the other sample was a 'healthy' comparison group (N = 134). Our analyses showed that in both groups the receipt of support was significantly and positively related to reports of anxiety, but not to reports of depression. Among the 'healthy' sample, controlling for subjects' sex largely explained the positive association between support receipt and anxiety. This was not the case among the 'disabled sample, where the inequity hypothesis received the strongest support. The implications of these findings for interventions based around the provision of social support are examined.     

Program of the 18th Annual Institute and the 31st Annual Conference of the A.G.P.A.

Exercise groups form an integral part of an insight-oriented, psychodynamic evening treatment program for a patient population characterized predominantly by mood and personality disorders. Clinical examples illustrate how the exercise groups are integrated with other therapy groups in the program. Therapists, who lead and participate in the exercise groups, attempt to maintain professional boundaries while they facilitate permissive activities where enactment of patient conflicts can occur. Events from the exercise groups frequently provide material for work in the more traditional psychodynamic groups of the program. A number of benefits of exercise groups are highlighted.     

A structural model for surface-enhanced stabilization in some metallic glass formers

A structural model for surface-enhanced stabilization in some metallic glass formers is proposed. In this model, the alloy surface structure is represented by five-layer Kagomé-net-based lateral ordering. Such surface structure has intrinsic abilities to stabilize icosahedral-like short-range order in the bulk, acting as ‘a cloak of liquidity’. In particular, recent experimental observations of surface-induced lateral ordering and a very high glass forming ability of the liquid alloy Au₄₉Ag_5.5Pd_2.3Cu_26.9Si_16.3 can be united using this structural model. This model may be useful for the interpretation of surface structure of other liquid alloys with a high glass forming ability. In addition, it suggests the possibility of guiding the design of the surface coating of solid containers for the stabilization of undercooled liquids.     

Conditional discrimination in young children: the roles of associative and relational processing

Two experiments examined conditional discrimination in 4- to 6-year-olds. Children learned to choose one of two objects (e.g., circle) when the background was, say, red and to choose the other object (e.g., triangle) when the background was, say, blue. Awareness was assessed and interpreted as a marker of relational processing. In Experiment 1, most 4- and 5-year-olds did not reach the learning criterion. Children in Experiment 2 solved simpler reversal learning problems before the conditional discrimination problems. Most 4- to 6-year-olds reached criterion, but they did not necessarily demonstrate awareness, suggesting that reversal learning and conditional discrimination can be acquired through associative or relational processing. Relational processing increased with age and was used more on simpler problems. Fluid intelligence predicted Problem 2 performance in children who used relational (not associative) processing on Problem 1. Prior experience with simpler problems and awareness of relational structure are influential in children's conditional discrimination.     

Does a concurrent memory load interfere with reasoning?

Adult participants were required to solve algebraic problems involving identification of unknown operations while they held a concurrent load in short-term memory. The load was varied in relation to participants’ previously measured spans for the same materials. The algebra problems were at two levels of difficulty, Level 2 or Level 3, as defined by Halford and Wilson (1980). An interaction was found between difficulty of the algebra problem and concurrent memory load, but the point at which interference occurred was at or above span. These results support the contentions of Baddeley and Hitch (1974) and refute those of Evans and Brooks (1981). Several findings from the literature on concurrent memory and reasoning tasks are considered, and it is argued that competition between reasoning and memory occurs only when the memory task entails some form of active processing (such as encoding or rehearsal) that occurs simultaneously with reasoning. Simple storage of a concurrent memory load, or rehearsal that can be alternated with reasoning, does not interfere. It is also suggested that future studies of this problem should take care to adjust memory loads in relation to spans and to analyze the basis of the task difficulty manipulation they employ.     

An evaluation of evidence for innate sex differences in linguistic ability

A female superiority in verbal ability is reported on many tests. It has been hypothesized that the female brain is more functionally symmetrical for language then the male, and that this is the cause of the alleged superiority. Recent research has suggested that factors other than sex are involved: handedness, age of maturity, and endocrine influences. It is not yet clear whether, despite its biological correlates, the female superiortiy is innate.     

Paraprofessionals as group psychotherapists

This paper defines and describes the characteristics, education and training of paraprofessionals who work in the fields of mental health and substance abuse. There are wide variations in the amount of education and training which paraprofessionals possess but many are drawn from the same cultural background as their clients or have experienced the same problems. The types of group psychotherapy which paraprofessionals are qualified to lead are discussed. Most groups fall into the categories of activity or short-term problem-oriented groups. The literature is reviewed and some major training demonstrations are described.     

A category theory approach to cognitive development

The category theory concept of a commutative diagram is used to construct a model of the way in which symbolic processes are applied to problem solving. The model provides for a relationship between symbolic processes and the problem which depends on structural isomorphism and consistency, but is independent of similarity between symbol elements and problem elements. It is then shown that several different levels of thought can be distinguished within the basic model. More information is needed to assign symbolic processes to a problem in a consistent way with higher-level thought processes than with lower-level processes. These information-processing requirements permit the approximate age of mastery of each level to be predicted, thereby offering an alternate theory of cognitive developmental stages. Two experiments designed to test the theory are reported.