Stress and Sociocultural Factors PDF

STRESS AND SOCIOCULTURAL FACTORS Dr. Syd Miller, Marie Coriaty, Melissa Callaci and Carla Moran Sociocultural Factors  Socioeconomic Status  Cross cultural differences  Cultural deprivation  Family Structure  Kinship  Child rearing practices  Caregiving...

STRESS AND SOCIOCULTURAL FACTORS Dr. Syd Miller, Marie Coriaty, Melissa Callaci and Carla Moran Sociocultural Factors  Socioeconomic Status  Cross cultural differences  Cultural deprivation  Family Structure  Kinship  Child rearing practices  Caregiving Stress and Socioeconomic Status Socioeconomic Status  SES and Stress  Role of subjective SES  Chronic stressors  Mediators ▪ Race ▪ Hostility ▪ Perceived control SES and Stress  What effect on stress can we expect from higher/lower SES?  Stress is also a key variable in understanding the relationship between SES and health outcomes  Relationship between SES and stress/health may be mediated by:  Available resources ◼ Education, income, employment, status, wealth  Social status ◼ The relative position within a hierarchy  Environmental aspects ◼ Neighborhood, social support Subjective SES  Refers to ones perception of social status in comparison to others  Feeling others are better off than you may lead to stress  Ayalon (2008)  Participants: Long-term care staff  Assessed: ◼ Burnout ◼ Positive aspects of caregiving ◼ Subjective SES ◼ Objective SES  Results: ◼ Perceived ↑SES predicted lower levels of burnout and more positive caregiving experiences SES and Chronic Stressors  Lower SES is related to increased incidence of socioecologic stressors:  Living situation  Financial status  Employment  The worse these factors the greater impact SES has on health (stress as a mediator) SES and Ethnicity/Race  The effect of SES on stress/health may also be mediated by ethnicity.  Disadvantaged minorities tend to be of lower SES  African-Americans have been found to be at higher risk for hypertension  However Latin-Americans are have not been found to be at higher risk despite low SES  The effect of discrimination may explain these differences SES and Ethnicity/Race Grothe et al. (2008)  Participants: ◼ Low SES African-Americans with CHD vs Healthy  Measures: ◼ Self-reported hostility ◼ Chronic stressors during the past week ◼ Perceived social support  Results: ◼ CHD linked to higher hostility, increased stress and lower social support ◼ Individuals with a hostile style are more likely to experience ◼ More stressful interpersonal environment ◼ Higher degree of social conflict ◼ Less social support SES and Perceived Control  Low feelings of control have been correlated to stress/negative health outcomes  Work stress more common in SES  Individuals report more chronic stressors: conflict, boredom, social strain, hostility, job insecurity, and dangerous working conditions  Why is work more stressful at SES levels?  Position at work confers respect through recognition of valuable individuals to the organization  SES directs people’s appraisal of their environment  SES groups experience less control SES and Perceived Control Christie & Barling (2009)  Participants  Canadian workers taken from the NPHS  3,419 working Canadians (mean age = 39.5; 57% male)  Measured  SES: income, occupational prestige, education  Personal control: Pearlin and Schooler’s (1978) mastery scale  Work stressors: Karasek and Theorell’s (1990) work stress scale  Health: number of health problems experienced by the participants  Results:  income, occupational prestige, and education associated with more stressful work and with less personal control  personal control lead to work stressors over time  work stressors lead to health problems Stress and Cultural Differences Culture and Stress  A culture is a group of people with shared values, characteristics, and interests.  Culture influences the stress response as follows: ▪ A. The types of stressors experienced ▪ B. The appraisal of these stressors ▪ C. The choice of coping strategies ▪ D. The institutional mechanisms for coping with stress  (Aldwin, 2000) Culture and Types of Stressors ❑ Different cultures create different sets of stressors ❑ Social role expectations, geopolitical circumstances ❑ Values and our social expectations ❑ There are also subcultures within the culture who experience/respond to stress differently ❑ Poverty creates its own stressors ❑ Affluence also has pressures Culture and the Appraisal of Stressors  The meaning of stress is different in many cultures  What is considered stressful also differs (e.g. looking someone in the eye)  Affected by conscious and unconscious processes  Affected by family and social ties Culture and the Choice of Coping Strategies  Coping strategies mediated by cultural values  e.g Emotional expression of stress may be less acceptable in Asian cultures  These cultures may report bodily symptoms instead  Spiritual Coping  Collective vs Individualistic Coping Independent vs Interdependent Cultures Independent vs Interdependent Cultures (O’Kearney & Jobson, 2009)  Impact of cultural differences in self on Cognitive appraisals in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder  Trauma survivors with and without PTSD from independent (individualist) and interdependent (collectivist) cultures  N= 106  Participants provided trauma narratives which were coded for negative cognitive appraisals (ie mental defeat, control strategies etc O’Kearney & Jobson, 2009: Results Sociocultural Trends  People live longer due to an increase in life expectancy  Marriage is delayed  Couples have fewer children  More adult children choose to live at home while pursuing a higher education  Increased number of adult children are returning home after divorce (Pierret, 2006)