Invisible Support and Adjustment to Stress

Although there is abundant evidence that perceived availability of support buffers the effects of stressors on mental health, the relatively meager research on support transactions has failed to show an association between actual receipt of support and adjustment to stressors. The authors examined a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of personality and social psychology 2000-12, Vol.79 (6), p.953-961
Main Authors: Bolger, Niall, Zuckerman, Adam, Kessler, Ronald C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Psychological
Adjustment
Adult
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Anxiety
Anxiety - psychology
Awareness
Biological and medical sciences
Caring
Cognition
Couples
Depression
Depression - psychology
Emotions
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Human
Humans
Interpersonal relations
Major Depression
Male
Male Female Relations
Marriage - psychology
Medical sciences
Mental Health
Mental stress
Mood disorders
Personality. Affectivity
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Significant Others
Social psychology
Social Support
Stress
Stress, Psychological - complications
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Summary:Although there is abundant evidence that perceived availability of support buffers the effects of stressors on mental health, the relatively meager research on support transactions has failed to show an association between actual receipt of support and adjustment to stressors. The authors examined a possible explanation for this inconsistency, that awareness of receiving support entails an emotional cost and that the most effective support is unnoticed by the recipient. Using data from a daily diary study of support provision and receipt in couples, the authors show that many transactions reported by supporters are not reported by recipients. They also show that these invisible support transactions promote adjustment to a major stressor.
ISSN:0022-3514
1939-1315
DOI:10.1037/0022-3514.79.6.953