Social Support, Life Events, and Depression

Contributors
Preface
Acknowledgments
Part I Identifying Basic Issues and Approach
1 Social Support in Epidemiological Perspective
Introduction
Conceptualization
Measurements
Causal Modeling
Specifications and Elaborations
2 Conceptualizing Social Support
Introduction
Conceptualizations of Social Support
The Synthetic Definition of Social Support
Further Discussion of the Synthetic Definition
A Theory of Social Resources and Social Support
Discussion
3 Study Design and Data
The Albany Area Health Survey
The Pretest
Sampling Design
Representativeness of the Sample
The Interview Schedules
Time Frames for Questions
The Interviewing Staff
Summary
Part II Measuring Depression, Life Events, and Psychological Resources
4 Measuring Depression: the CES-D Scale
Introduction
Measuring Depression: Mood, Symptom, or Syndrome?
The Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) Scale: History of Development
Types of Depressive Symptomatology
Reliability and Validity of the CES-D Scale in the Current Study: A Comparison with Previous Work
Relationship of the CES-D Scale over Time
The CES-D and Clinical Caseness
Summary
5 Measuring Life Events
Introduction
The Stress(or) Construct
Analytic Tasks
Our Measurement of Life Events
Statistical Description of Life-Events Scales
Conclusions
6 Measuring Psychological Resources
Introduction
Present Objectives
The Concept of Personal Competence
The Concept of Self-Esteem
Over-Time Correlations
Testing the Proxy Issue
Factor Analyses of Personal Competence and Self-Esteem
Summary
Part III Measuring Social Support
7 Measuring Intimate Support: the Family and Confidant Relationships
Introduction
Analysis of the Medalie-Goldbourt Scale of Family Relationships
Confidant Support: Conceptualization and Measurement
Discussion
Summary and Conclusions
8 Measuring the Instrumental and Expressive Functions of Social Support
Scale Development
Total Scale Reliability and Validity
Determining Dimensions of the Instrumental and Expressive Items
Factor Analysis
Further Development: Strong-Tie Support
Reliability and Validity of Strong-Tie Support
Criticisms of the Instrumental and Expressive Supportive Scales: An Empirical Test
Summary and Implications
9 Measuring Community and Network Support
Introduction
Community Support
Network Support
Concluding Remarks
Part IV Constructing and Estimating Basic Models
10 Modeling the Effects of Social Support
Introduction
Modeling the Effects of Social Support
Properties and Implications of the Models
Evidence from Other Studies
Data and the Analytic Technique
The Additive Models (Models 2, 3, and 4)
Class A Models
Class ? Models
Class C Models
The Interactive Models
Models of Joint Additive and Interactive Effects
Conclusions
Part V Exploring Basic Models
11 The Age Structure and the Stress Process
Relationship between Age and Depression
Construction of Age Categories
Age-Related Effects of Life Events and Social Support on Depression
Further Age-Group Refinements
Summary and Implications
12 Sex, Marital Status, and Depression: the Role of Life Events and Social Support
Gender, Marital Status, and Depression: a Review
The Confounding Issue: Marital Status as a Stressor or as a Social Support
The Model of Sex, Marital Status, Life Events, Social Support, and Depression
Sex, Marital Status, and Depression
Sex, Marital Status, Life Events, and Social Support
Independent Effects of Life Events and Social Support
Joint Effects, Mediating Effects, and Interaction Effects
Summary and Implications
13 Social Glass and Depressive Symptomatology
Introduction
Male-Female Class Difference in Vulnerability
Socioeconomic Characteristics of Males and Females
Social Class, Life Events, Social Support, and Depression
Class-Oriented Effects of Life Events and Social Support on Depression
Class and the Mediating Role of Social Support
Class and the Suppressing Role of Social Support
Summary
14 Prior History of Illness in the Basic Model
Prior History of Illness
The Event-Proneness Model
Physical Illness and Psychological Distress
Models to be Examined
The Measure of Adverse Physical Health
Model 1: The Event-Proneness Hypothesis (Physical Illness and Life Events)
Model 2: The Modified Event-Proneness Hypothesis: Prior Physical Illness, Life Events, and Subsequent Psychological Symptoms
Model 3: The Basic Model (Life Events, Social Support, and Depression) with Prior Illness
Conclusions
Part VI Examining Alternative Approaches to the Basic Models
15 Gender of the Confidant and Depression
Gender Differences in Well-Being
Data and Measurement
Marital Change and Confidants
Multivariate Analysis
Summary and Discussion
16 Buffering the Impact of the Most Important Life Event
Introduction
Prerequisites and Elements of the Buffering Model
Design and Hypotheses
The Measures
Effect of the Most Important Life Event
Buffering Effects of Strong Ties
Discussion
17 Epilogue: In Retrospect and Prospect
Summary of Major Findings
Future Research Agenda
Toward a Theory of the Internal Structure of Social Support
References
Author Index
Subject Index