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Chapter 4

Chapter 4. The Social and Spiritual Basis of Stress. Overview. This chapter Examines the two facets of the social dimension in terms of social support and its relationship to stress and health Explores the relationship between stress and daily hassles, life events, and major traumas

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Chapter 4

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  1. Chapter 4 The Social and Spiritual Basis of Stress

  2. Overview • This chapter • Examines the two facets of the social dimension in terms of social support and its relationship to stress and health • Explores the relationship between stress and daily hassles, life events, and major traumas • Looks at ongoing negative social problems as social stressors • Examines how religion, faith, and spirituality are related to the stress response

  3. Outline • Outline • The social dimension: Social support and stress • Life experiences and stress • Daily hassles and uplifts • Major traumatic life events • Chronic negative social problems • Spirituality and stress

  4. The Social Dimension: Social Support and Stress • Social networks: our relationships, group memberships, and network connections • Social support: resources (esteem, emotional, informational, tangible, financial, etc.) we get from our social networks

  5. Measuring Social Support • Four functional measures of social support • Social embeddedness • Relationship quality • Perceived social support • Enacted social support

  6. How Social Support Moderates Stress • The direct effect theory • An extensive social network exerts a protective effect against stress • The stress-buffering theory • A social support network helps offset the negative effects of stressors

  7. Health Effects of Social Support • People with supportive social networks have lower rates of illness, lower mortality rates, lower rates of depression, and stronger immune systems • Social networks also can cause stress, requiring time and energy to maintain

  8. Life Experiences and Stress • Social Support Readjustment Rating Scale developed by Holmes and Rahe • Found relationship between life events and increased susceptibility to illness • Assigned point values (life change units) to specific life events • Noted that high accumulation of life change units resulted in increased chance of serious illness

  9. Criticism of Life-Events Approach • Stress measured in terms of life events • Assumes everyone responds the same to a specific type of event • Does not consider person’s perception of event • Replication studies with different populations found conflicting results

  10. Hassles and Health—A Better Indicator of Stress • Hassles: “irritating, frustrating distressing demands that to some degree characterize everyday transactions with the environment” (Kanner et al.) • More individualistic than life events • Several studies show a high correlation between the level of one’s daily hassles and physical or psychological illness

  11. The Effects of Uplifts • Uplifts: small, happiness-inducing events (e.g., a compliment or a joke) • Uplifts have been shown to cancel out hassles • The people who benefit most from uplifts are those with the most hassles

  12. Major Life Events and Stress • Some events are so traumatic that they are almost universal stressors • Can be personal (rape, torture) or community (flood, terrorism) • Experiencing such trauma can lead to acute stress disorder and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

  13. Chronic Negative Social Problems • Fit somewhere between tragic life events and minor daily hassles • Poverty • Economic uncertainty • Economic insecurity • Job insecurity • Job loss • Prejudice and discrimination • Stereotypes • Gender role stereotyping • Racial and ethnic stereotyping • Racial profiling • Sexual orientation stereotyping

  14. Spirituality and Stress • Faith: belief without proof • Religion: an organized system of worship and belief; a cumulative historic tradition • Spirituality: a belief in or relationship with a higher power, creative force, divine being, or infinite source of energy; a sense of interconnectedness

  15. Faith, Religion, and Spirituality • All three have been studied separately and in combination • All three have been shown to have a positive effect on coping with stress

  16. Faith, Religion, and Spirituality • How do they work? • Change one’s perspective about a potential stressor • Give strength to help people cope • Build social support

  17. HOPE for Spiritual Distress • Anadarajah and Hight use questions to assess the role of spirituality in a person’s life, for example: • Hope: What are your sources of hope, strength, comfort, and peace? • Organized: Do you consider yourself part of an organized religion? • Personal: Do you have personal spiritual beliefs and practices? • Effects: What are the effects of your spiritual beliefs on your medical care and end-of-life issues?

  18. Chapter 4: The Social and Spiritual Basis of Stress • Summary

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