THE EFFECTS OF PARTNER SUPPORT AND PEER SUPPORT ON PSYCHOLOGICAL DEMORALIZATION: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF YOUNG ADULT MEN AND THEIR VIETNAM VETERAN PEERS.
Item
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Title
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THE EFFECTS OF PARTNER SUPPORT AND PEER SUPPORT ON PSYCHOLOGICAL DEMORALIZATION: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF YOUNG ADULT MEN AND THEIR VIETNAM VETERAN PEERS.
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Identifier
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AAI8205756
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identifier
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8205756
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Creator
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MARTIN, JOHN LOUIS.
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Contributor
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Dr. David Rindskopf | Dr. Charles Kadushin
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Date
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1982
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Social
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Abstract
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Evidence from a variety of studies has indicated that romantic partners and close friends, considered separately, are each capable of providing emotional social support having direct and/or stress-buffering effects on psychological health. However, there has been little systematic effort aimed at comparing these two sources of support in terms of their relative effectiveness in providing these salutary health effects. This issue of the relative effectiveness of partners and friends is considered in terms of whether these two sources of support may act as functional alternatives for one another, such that the lack of support from one of these sources may be compensated for by having support from the other source.;Based on a stratified sample of men (N = 910), aged 24 to 35, separate measures of partner support and peer support were derived. A measure of demoralization was used to represent psychological status. A subset of these respondents (N = 185) were designated as having been exposed to a previous life stressor due to their involvement in combat in the Vietnam war. Thus, it was possible to test for both direct effects and stress-buffering effects of each type of social support.;When each measure of support was analyzed separately, partner support was found to have both strong direct effects and stress-buffering effects on demoralization levels, while peer support had only weak direct effects. However, in subsequent analyses, the effects of each type of support were re-examined while controlling for the level of the other type of support. These results indicated that partner support and peer support act as functional alternatives for each other in terms of buffering effects; a high level of either type of support reduces the negative impact of prior exposure to the stressor of combat. In terms of direct effects, however, the two types of support do not act as functional alternatives for one another. Partner support has strong direct effects on demoralization levels regardless of the level of peer support, while peer support has no such direct effects on demoralization levels, regardless of the level of partner support.;These results are discussed in terms of differences found between respondents previously exposed to the stressor of combat and those not so exposed. Methodological issues involving the assessment of direct and buffering effects, and independent analyses versus simultaneous analyses of support measures, are also considered. Finally, the implication of these results for conceptualizing and measuring social support is discussed.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Psychology
