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The Social Dimension of Stress: Experimental Manipulations of Social Support and Social Identity in the Trier Social Stress Test
11:13

The Social Dimension of Stress: Experimental Manipulations of Social Support and Social Identity in the Trier Social Stress Test

Published on: November 19, 2015

Social support and health behavior in hostile black and white men and women in CARDIA. Coronary Artery Risk

J Allen1, J Markovitz, D R Jacobs

  • 1Division of Epidemiology and Clinical Applications, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-7936, USA.

Psychosomatic Medicine
|August 4, 2001
PubMed

Insights

Social support may only sometimes mitigate hostility

Area of Science:

  • Cardiovascular health research
  • Behavioral psychology
  • Public health

Background:

  • Previous research indicates hostility is linked to poor health behaviors.
  • The Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study provides data on young adults.
  • Understanding protective factors for health behaviors is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if high social support buffers the negative health behavior effects of high hostility.
  • To examine this relationship across different race and gender groups.

Main Methods:

  • Cross-sectional analysis of 5115 young adults from the CARDIA study.
  • Assessed hostility using the Cook-Medley Hostility scale and social support using a defined index.
  • Analyzed associations between hostility, social support, and health behaviors (exercise, smoking, alcohol consumption).

Main Results:

  • Social support was linked to increased exercise in most groups, but this benefit persisted with high hostility only in men.
  • High social support was associated with less smoking in white women, but this effect diminished in the high-hostility subgroup.
  • High social support and high hostility were moderately linked to increased alcohol consumption in black men and white women.

Conclusions:

  • Social support's ability to reduce the negative health behavior impact of hostility is inconsistent and complex.
  • Effects vary significantly across different race and gender demographics.
  • Further research is needed to explore specific types of social support and their influence on health behaviors.
Abstract

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