1. Stephen Hansell, Ph.D.
Department of Sociology
Institute for Health Research
http://sakai.rutgers.edu
shansell@rci.rutgers.edu
609-203-2830

2. Class 12 – Social Support

3. C. Specific kinds of events linked to specific illnesses
1. Loss events increase depression
a. Fresh start events decrease depression
» give people hope for the future
2. Danger events increase anxiety
3. Intrusive events increase schizophrenia
– schitzophrenia - very serious psychiatric disease where people
have delusions, their interpersonal relations are disturbed and
cant hold jobs
– intrusive events make it worse = cant take very intensly
emotional people
– do better by not living not in the family but in a group home
4. Goal frustration events increase GI disorders and heart attacks
– goal frustration events= eg you work real hard and you still do
not get what you want
– GI gastro intestinal events
– challenge events = menstrual disruptions for women
5. Challenge events increase menstrual disruptions

4. IX. Contextual problems
A. Expensive and labor intensive
B. Difficult to define "average person“
1. Easier in homogeneous population
2. More difficult in heterogeneous population
– Hard to find Drug addicts
3. Do you need raters who are similar to subjects of
study?

5. I. Commonsense definition of social support
– te more social support you got, the better
– it helps people cope with stress
A. Resources provided by other people
B. Protects individuals from undue stress
C. Provides things that people need to cope

6. II. Problems with commonsense definition
– eg - when you are married, you have more
social support than you are single!
– but problems is
A. Vague, oversimplified
B. No theory of etiology
• it dosent tell us how social support improves
health
• like does not tell how it damages arteries
C. No theory of treatment
• heres asprin and 2 friends

7. III. James House's systematic definition
A. Emotional closeness
• sympathy/empathy from other people
• you can life a happy healthy life as long as you have ONE person
that gives you social support
B. Instrumental aid
• goods, services, money, grand parent babysitting
services, rate my professor
C. Informatiohelps for self evsln
• how do people get jobs?
• internet job lists, newspapers, job agencies etc but
this does not work
• but they get it through first and second order relationship
• in Us people use about 6 people to find the job
D. Self-appraisal
• people give informal feedback on how well you do on a job/ life etc
• helps self evaluation

8. IV. Support predicts mortality weakly (IMP)
– California study in Alameda county by lisa burkman. she recruited 30-69
and studied them for 9 years.
– asked questions about marriage, no of friends, voluntary group
connections like church, etc
– Results = the less social you are, the more chances were youd die soon
(heart diseases, cancer and stroke)
– interesting = these diseases of civilization are associated with les
social supports
– Social support predicts morbidity ____weakly
A. Lisa Berkman's California study of social networks
and mortality
1. Social connection index
1. Less social connection associated with higher
mortality

9. V. Support predicts physical morbidity weakly
A. Social networks affect preventive health behavior
1. Example: adolescent peer groups affect
smoking
2. Example: drinking culture affects drinking

10. B. Support affects diseases in which host
susceptibility important
1. AIDS
• the belief in the devine being that care frk
• religion helps rid you of get rid of bad habits
D. Special case of religion
1. Belief in divine being reduces stress
2. Provides a social group that reduces stress
–
3. Reduces bad health habits

11. VI. Support predicts psychological distress
moderately
A. Durkheim's study of suicide (looked at death
certificates)
1. People who lived alone more likely to commit
suicide
2. certificates around where he lived told who lived
with who and how many people
3. in presidential elections 18/20 taller people won

12. VII. Models of etiology of support and health
A. Direct effects model
• it has direct effect = having friends will make life
more active and interesting
B. Buffering model
• social support is activated only when you are in a
stressful situation
C. Complex model combining stressful life events and
social support
• this is the only model that kinda works.
• people abused got married and abused their wife
and bused their kids

13. VIII. Implications for treatment
A. Primary prevention
• Providing social support before you get sick
B. Support groups
C. AA group meetings
D. weight watchers
• people aploud you for loosing weight
IX. Effects of support often complex
– menstural cycles of women that were
roommates syncrotanized.

14. X. More support is not always good
A. Young widows study
B. Women adapting to divorce
C. Effects of support often complex

15. XI. Hansell school study of social networks and
health
A. Adolescence a time when many new health
behaviors are learned
B. Adolescence also a time when need for friendship
and group identity peak
C. Study procedure

16. Leader
Broker Broker
Follower Follower Follower
Isolate

17. D. Study results
1. Leader role
2. Broker role
3. Follower role
4. Isolate role
E. Implications

18. Stephen Hansell, Ph.D.
Department of Sociology
Institute for Health Research
http://sakai.rutgers.edu
shansell@rci.rutgers.edu
609-203-2830