Sourcebook of Social Support and Personality

509 Pages·1997·12.93 MB·English

by  Gregory R. Pierce, Brian Lakey, Irwin G. Sarason, Barbara R. Sarason, Helene J. Joseph (auth.), Barbara R. Sarason (eds.)

SOURCEBOOK OF
SOCIAL SUPPORT
AND PERSONALITY
THE PLENUM SERIES IN
SOCIAL/CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY
Series Editors: C. R. Snyder
University of Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas
Current Volumes in the Series:
AGGRESSION
Biological, Developmental, and Social Perspectives
Edited by Seymour Feshbach andJolanta Zagrodzka
AGGRESSIVE BEllAV IOR
Current Perspectives
Edited by L. Rowell Huesmann
COERCION AND AGGRESSIVE COMMUNITY TREATMENT
A New Frontier in Mental Health Law
Edited by Deborah L. Dennis and John Monahan
THE ECOLOGY OF AGGRESSION
Arnold P. Goldstein
EFFICACY, AGENCY, AND SELF·ESTEEM
Edited by Michael H. Kernis
HUMAN LEARNED HELPLESSNESS
A Coping Perspective
Mario Mikulincer
PATHOLOGICAL SELF·CRITICISM
Assessment and Treatment
Raymond M. Bergner
PROCRASTINATION AND TASK AVOIDANCE
Theory, Research, and Treatment
Joseph R. Ferrari,Judith L.Johnson, and William G. McCown
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF VANDALISM
Arnold P. Goldstein
SELF·EFFICACY, ADAPTATION, AND ADJUSTMENT
Theory, Research, and Application
Edited by James E. Maddux
SOCIAL COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
History and Current Domains
David F. Barone,James E. Maddux, and C. R. Snyder
SOURCEBOOK OF SOCIAL SUPPORT AND PERSONALITY
Edited by Gregory R. Pierce, Brian Lakey, Irwin G. Sarason, and Barbara R. Sarason
A Continuation Order Plan is available for this series. A continuation order will bring delivery of
each new volume immediately upon publication. Volumes are billed only upon actual shipment. For
further information please contact the publisher.
SOURCEBOOK OF
SOCIAL SUPPORT
AND PERSONALITY
EDITED BY
GREGORY R. PIERCE
Hamilton College
Clinton, New York
BRIAN LAKEY
Wayne State University
Detroit, Michigan
AND
IRWIN G. SARASON AND
BARBARA R. SARASON
University of Washington
Seattle, Washington
Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
Library of Congress Cataloglng-ln-PublIcatIon Data
Sourcebook of s o c i a l support and p e r s o n a l i t y / edited by Gregory R.
Pierce . . . [ e t a l . ].
p. cm. — (The Plenum s e r i e s in socia 1/c 1 inica1 psychology)
Includes b i b l i o g r a p h i c a l r e f e r e n c e s and index.
ISBN 978 - 1 - 4 8 9 9 - 1 8 4 5 - 1
1. Social netwo r k s — P s y c h o l o g i c a l asp e c t s . 2. Social i n t e r a c t i o n -
-Psychological as p e c t s . 3. P e r s o n a l i t y and s o c i a l i n t e l l i g e n c e .
4. P e r s o n a l i t y and emotions. I. P i e r c e , Gregory R. I I . S e r i e s .
HM131.S61869 1997
302—dc21 97-1781
CIP
ISBN 978-1-4899-1845-1 ISBN 978-1-4899-1843-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4899-1843-7
© Springer Science+Business Media New York 1997
Originally published by Plenum Press, New Yor in 1997
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1997
http://www.plenum.com
All rights reserved
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording,
or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher
CONTRIBUTORS
MARK W BALDWIN, Department of Psychology, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg,
Manitoba, Canada R3B 2E9
KIM BARTHOLOMEw, Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby,
British Columbia, Canada V5A 1s6
STEVEN R. H. BEACH, Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens,
Georgia 30602-3013
LIZA BONIN, Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas
78712
THOMAS N. BRADBURY, Department of Psychology, University of California at Los
Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90024-1563
REBECCA J. COBB, Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby,
British Columbia, Canada V5A 1s6
LAWRENCE H. COHEN, Psychology Department, University of Delaware, Newark,
Delaware 19716
PATRICIA M. COLBY, Department of Psychology, University of California at Davis,
Davis, California 95616
REBECCA COLLINS RAND, 1700 Main Street, P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, California
90407-2138
ADAM DI PAULA, Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Van-
couver, British Columbia, Canada v6T 1Z4
JANNA BRITTAIN DREw, Department of Psychology, Wayne State University, Detroit,
Michigan 48202
ROBERT A. EMMONS, Department of Psychology, University of California at Davis,
Davis, California 95616
IAN H. GOTLIB, Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, California
94305
v
vi CONTRIBUTORS
IGOR GRANT, Department of Psychiatry, University of California at San Diego, LaJolla,
California 92093-0622
SHEILA GROSS, Department of Psychology, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylva-
nia 17837
TANYA A. HETTLER, Psychology Department, University of Delaware, Newark, Dela-
ware 19716
CHARLES J. HOLAHAN, Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin,
Austin, Texas 78712
HELENE J. JOSEPH, Department of Psychology, Hamilton College, Clinton, New York
13323
ROBERT M. KAPLAN, Division of Health Care Sciences 0622, Department of Family and
Preventive Medicine, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California
92093-0622
JENNIFER KATZ, Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia
30602-3013
KEUNHO KEEFE, Reiss-Davis Child Study Center, Los Angeles, California 90034
GIORA KEINAN, Department of Psychology, Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
DAVID KERNER, SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, University
of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0622
NEAL KRAUSE, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, School of Public
Health, University of Michigan, 1420 Washington Heights, Ann Arbor, Michigan
48109-2029
BRIAN LAKEY, Department of Psychology, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan
48202
JOHN E. LYDON, Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec,
Canada H3A 181
ERIC S. MANKOWSKI, The Center for Health Care Evaluation, Veterans Mfairs Health
Care System and Stanford University, School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California 94025
RUDOLF H. MOOS, Center for Health Care Evaluation, Veterans Mfairs Health Care
System and Stanford University Medical Center, Palo Alto, California 94025
LISA B. MYERS, Department of Psychology, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
43210-1222
ARIE NADLER, Department of Psychology, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv 69978, Israel
MICHAEL D. NEWCOMB, Division of Counseling Psychology, University of Southern
California, Los Angeles, California 90089-0031
CRYSTAL L. PARK, Department of Psychology, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056
CONTRIBUTORS vii
LAURI A. PASCH, Department of Pediatrics, University of California at San Francisco,
San Francisco, California 94143-0844
TIIOMAS L. PATIERSON, Department of Psychiatry, University of California at San
Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0622
GREGORY R. PIERCE, Department of Psychology, Hamilton College, Clinton, New
York 13323
TAMARHA PIERCE, Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec,
Canada H3A IBI
JENNIFER A. POOLE, Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby,
British Columbia, Canada V5A Is6
MARY E. PROCIDANO, Department of Psychology, Fordham University, Bronx, New
York 10458
J. T. PTACEK, Department of Psychology, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsyl-
vania 17837
JOHN E. ROBERTS, Department of Psychology, State University of New York, Buffalo,
New York 14260-4110
RICHARD M. RYAN, Department of Psychology, University of Rochester, Rochester,
New York 14627
BARBARA R. SARASON, Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seat-
tle, Washington 98195
IRWIN G. SARASON, Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle,
Washington 98195
DAVID A. SMITII, Department of Psychology, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
43210-1222
WALANDA WALKER SMITH, Department of Psychology, Fordham University, Bronx,
New York 10458
JESSICA SOLKY BUTZEL, Department of Psychology, University of Rochester, Roches-
ter, New York 14627
KIERAN T. SULLNAN, Department of Psychology, University of California at Los
Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90024-1563
ROBERT S. WYER JR., Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign, Champaign, Illinois 61820
PREFACE
The impetus for this book grew out of the need to take stock of the accomplishments
and challenges of research and theory on social support, especially that which has
focused on personality and social support. The accomplishments are numerous, as
attested by the chapters that make up this volume. A substantial literature has accumu-
lated indicating that personality may influence the course of support-related trans-
actions, how these transactions are encoded and remembered, as well as the impact
that such processes may have on outcomes. Acknowledgement of these accomplish-
ments must be tempered by the recognition that several conceptual and methodologi-
cal issues must be addressed before further advancement is likely. The chapters in this
book present an impressively diverse discussion of the role of personality in social
support processes and represent an important step in tackling these challenges.
The sourcebook is divided into three parts. The first addresses the conceptualiza-
tion of social support, its theoretical links to related constructs, and methodological
issues. The chapters in this part reflect two critical needs in theory development on
social support. First is recognition of the fact that the construct of social support is
multifaceted and complex; attempts to define the support construct, therefore, must
not only distinguish among the several components that comprise the more general
construct of support, but also specify the links among these elements. Second, social
support research has been pursued largely independently of other topics within
psychology and related disciplines. Thus, social support theories are needed that
embed the construct in broader theoretical frameworks that incorporate observations
established by researchers in other domains.
In the second part, personality processes linking that social support construct to
mental and physical health are explored. Social support researchers have been crit-
icized for adopting a largely atheoretical approach to the study of social support
phenomena. By specifying mechanisms to account for observed associations between
social support on the one hand, and physical health and well-being on the other, the
scholars represented in this section take an important step in advancing social sup-
port theory by addressing the psychological processes underlying these connections.
Several of the authors report findings from new studies to illustrate empirical ap-
proaches to explore proposed mechanism.
ix
x PREFACE
The third part of the volume focuses on connections between social support and
social behavior. For nearly a decade, researchers have noted that the links between
perceptions of social support and transactions among network members are modest
and are not well understood. The chapters in this part underscore the point that
potentially supportive transactions represent interactions between relationship partic-
ipants' personal dispositions and the situational contexts in which they respond to
each other.
Our confidence in the ability of science to advance our understanding of impor-
tant topics has been greatly strengthened as a consequence of our interactions with the
numerous scholars who have contributed to this volume. Their efforts to organize and
synthesize much of what is currently known about the topic of social support, and to
chart new paths for further work in the field, reflect a substantial achievement. Our
own appreciation for the topic of social support has been greatly enhanced by the
thoughtful and stimulating analyses offered by the contributing authors. We hope
readers of this volume will share this experience as well.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We wish to thank several individuals and institutions for making this sourcebook a
reality. Hamilton College generously provided sabbatical leave to Gregory Pierce,
which greatly facilitated the development of the book. In addition, several former
Hamilton students, two of whom are currently in graduate school, collaborated in
writing chapters for the book: Helene Joseph and Jessica Solky Butzel. Their contribu-
tions serve to illustrate the active role of young - as well as estabished-scholars in the
social support field. Tracy Hildebrand, a current Hamilton student, invested consider-
able energy and time in helping to complete the indexes.
We also wish to thank Eliot Werner, Executive Editor at Plenum, for encouraging
the pursuit of this volume; his support and assistance aided greatly in its production.