Can people become "immune" 🛡️ to the impact of stress 😰 to some extent? Some aspects of people's lives can reduce the potential for stressors 📉 to develop and help individuals cope 💪 with problems when they occur. Prevention 🛡️ is the first line of defense ⚔️ against the impact of stress 😰. We will look at several ways people can help themselves and others prevent and cope with stress. The first approach makes use of the beneficial effects of social support 👥❤️.
Enhancing Social Support 👥❤️
We have all turned to others 👥 for help and comfort 🤗 when under stress 😰 at some time in our lives. If you have ever had to endure troubled times on your own 🚶♂️, you know how important social support 👥❤️ can be. But social support is not only helpful after stressors appear 😰, it also can help avert problems 🛡️ in the first place. Consider, for example, the tangible support 🎁 newly-weds 💑 receive when they get married 💒. The gifts they receive 🎁 include many of the items they will need to set up a household 🏠, without which the couple would be saddled either with the financial burden 💰📈 of buying the items or with the hassles ⚠️ of not having them.
Although there are people in all walks of life 🚶♀️🚶♂️ who lack the social support they need, some segments of the population have even less social support than others 📉. For instance:
- Although men 👨 tend to have larger social networks 🌐 than women 👩, women seem to use theirs more effectively for support 💪.
- Many elderly individuals 👴👵 live in isolated conditions 🏚️ and have few people on whom to rely.
- Network size 🌐 is related to social prestige, income 💰, and education 🎓: the lower the prestige, income, and education level of individuals, the smaller their social networks tend to be 📉.
Furthermore, the networks of people from lower socioeconomic classes are usually less diverse 📊 than those of people from higher classes—that is, lower-class networks contain fewer non-kin members 👥. In contemporary American society 🇺🇸, the traditional sources of support have shifted to include greater reliance on individuals in social and helping organizations 🏢. This is partly because extended family members 👨👩👧👦 today have different functions and live farther apart 🗺️ than they did many decades ago.
Social support 👥❤️ is a dynamic process 🔄. People's needs for giving of, and receipt of support change over time ⏳. Some factors within the individual determine whether he or she will receive or provide social support when it is needed. One factor is the person's temperament 🧠. People differ in their need for and interest in social contact 👥 and affiliation. Those persons who tend to seek interaction 💬 with others are more likely to give and receive support than those who do not. To some extent the experiences people have determine these tendencies. Children 👶 who grow up in caring families 👨👩👧 and have good relations with peers 👫 learn the social skills 🎯 needed to seek help and give it when needed. But research has found that people who experience high levels of chronic stress 📈😰, such as when their health declines severely 🤒, often find that their social support resources deteriorate 📉 at the same time. These results are disheartening 😔 because they suggest that people whose need for social support is greatest may be unlikely to receive it.
Efforts to enhance 📈 people's ability to give and receive social support 👥 can begin in early childhood 👶, particularly at school 🏫. Teachers 👩🏫 can enhance children's giving social support by reading appropriate storybooks 📚 to the class and by having boys and girls engage in cooperative games 🎮 that promote prolonged interactions with one another. These experiences can teach children how to talk nicely to and compliment 👍 others, share and take turns 🔄, include individuals who have been left out in activities 🤝, and help people who are injured 🤕 or having difficulty.
In adulthood 🧑, people can enhance their ability to give and receive social support 👥❤️ by joining community organizations 🏢, such as social, religious ⛪, special interest, and self-help groups. These organizations have the advantage of bringing together individuals with similar problems and interests 🎯, which can become the basis for sharing 🤝, helping 🤗, and friendship 👫. In the United States 🇺🇸, there are many widely known self-help groups, including Alcoholics Anonymous 🍺❌ and Parents without Partners 👨👧, and special-interest groups, including the American Association of Retired People 👴👵 and support groups for people with specific illnesses 🤒, such as arthritis or AIDS. Individuals with serious illnesses 🏥 are most likely to join a support group if they have an embarrassing or stigmatizing disorder, such as AIDS 🎗️ or breast cancer 🎗️. Isolated people 🚶♂️ of all ages—especially the elderly 👴👵—with all types of difficulties should be encouraged to join suitable organizations 🏢.
Communities 🏘️ can play a valuable role in enhancing people's resources 📈 for social support 👥 by creating programs to help individuals develop social networks 🌐. Social support can also be encouraged in occupational settings 💼. Employers 👔 can do this in many ways, such as by organizing workers in teams 👥 or work groups, providing facilities for recreation 🎾 and fitness 🏃♂️, arranging social events 🎉 for workers and their families 👨👩👧, and providing counseling services 🧑⚕️ to help employees through troubled times ⏳😰. Some bosses 👔 get so caught up in the role of manager that they fail to give the personal support 🤗 their employees need. A supportive boss 👍 discusses decisions and problems with employees 💬, compliments and credits them for good work 👏, and stands behind reasonable decisions they make 🛡️. Less supportive bosses can make a conscious effort 🎯 to improve these behaviors.
Although social support 👥❤️ is generally helpful and appreciated 👍, it isn't always. Sometimes, well-meaning efforts by friends and relatives can undermine good health habits 🏥❌ and impair the recovery 🤒 of people who are ill. Social support can also be ineffective ❌ if the recipient interprets it as a sign of inadequacy 😔, feels uncomfortable about not being able to reciprocate 🔄, or believes his or her personal control 🎮 is limited by it. Providing effective social support requires sensitivity 💭 and good judgment 🧠.
Improving One's Personal Control 🎮💪
When life becomes stressful 😰, people who lack a strong sense of personal control 🎮 may stop trying 🛑, thinking, "Oh, what's the use." Instead of feeling they have power 💪 and control 🎮, they feel helpless 😔 and afraid that their efforts will lead to failure ❌ and embarrassment 😳. For instance, people with painful 🤕, disabling, or life-threatening chronic illnesses 🤒 may stop trying to improve their conditions. When seriously ill patients 🏥 who feel little personal control face a new severe stressor 😰, they show more emotional distress 😢 and, perhaps, less effective endocrine function 🧪 than those who feel more control 🎮. The main psychological help such people need is to boost their self-efficacy 💪 and reduce their passiveness 🛑 and helplessness 😔. A pessimistic outlook 😞 increases people's potential for stress 😰 and can have a negative effect on their health 🏥⬇️.
How can a person's sense of control be enhanced? 🎮📈
The process can begin very early 👶. Parents 👨👩👧, teachers 👩🏫, and other caregivers can show a child 👶 their love ❤️ and respect 🙏, provide a stimulating environment 🌟, encourage and praise 👍 the child's accomplishments 🏆, and set reasonable standards of conduct and performance that he or she can regard as challenges 🎯, rather than threats ⚠️. Doing these things is likely also to enhance the child's resilience 💪 or hardiness, and hardy individuals tend to use coping strategies 🛠️ that manage their stress 😰 effectively.
Adults' personal control 🎮 can be enhanced 📈, too. Employers 👔 can help by giving workers 🧑💼 some degree of control over aspects of their jobs 💼, allowing them input in decisions 💬 about the hours they work ⏰, which tasks to work on 📋, and ways to improve the quality of their work 📈. For people with serious chronic illnesses 🤒, health psychologists 🧑⚕️ can help those with little control by training them 📚 in effective ways to cope with stress 😰💪.
Organizing One's World Better 📋🗂️
"Where did I put my keys?" 🔑 you have surely heard someone ask frantically 😰 while running late ⏰ to make an appointment 📅. People often feel stress 😰 because they are running late ⏱️ or believe they don't have enough time ⏳ to do the tasks of the day 📋. They need to organize their worlds 🗂️ to make things happen efficiently 📈. This can take the form of keeping an appointment calendar 📅, designating certain places for certain items 🏠, or putting materials in alphabetized file folders 📁, for instance. Organizing one's world 🗂️ reduces frustration 😤, wasted time ⏳, and the potential for stress 📉😰.
Time Management ⏰📋
An important approach for organizing one's time is called time management ⏰. It consists of three elements 3️⃣:
- The first element 1️⃣ is to set goals 🎯. These goals should be reasonable or obtainable ones ✅, and they should include long-term goals 📅, such as getting a job promotion 👔📈 next year, and short-term ones, such as meeting a weekly sales quota 📊.
- The second element 2️⃣ involves making daily To-Do Lists 📝 with priorities indicated ⚡, keeping the goals 🎯 in mind. These lists should be composed early each morning ☀️, or late in the preceding day 🌙. Each list must be written ✍️—trying to keep the list in your head 🧠 is unreliable ❌ and makes setting priorities difficult ⚠️.
- The third element 3️⃣ is to set up a schedule 📅 for the day, allocating estimated time periods ⏱️ to each item in the list 📋. If an urgent new task arises during the day ⚡, the list should be adjusted 🔄 to include it.
Exercising: Links To Stress and Health 🏃♂️💪
You have probably heard from TV 📺, radio 📻, magazine 📰, and newspaper reports that exercise 🏃♀️ and physical fitness 💪 can protect people from stress 😰 and its harmful effects on health 🏥. These reports cite a wide range of benefits 🌟 of exercising from increased intellectual functioning 🧠📈 and personal control 🎮 to decreased anxiety 😰📉, depression 😞, hostility 😠, and tension 😤. Do exercise 🏃♂️ and fitness 💪 reduce the potential for stress and its effects on health 🏥?
Correlational and retrospective studies 📊 of this question have found that people who exercise 🏃♀️ or are physically fit 💪 often report less anxiety 😰📉, depression 😞, and tension 😤 in their lives than do people who do not exercise 🛋️ or are less fit.
Preparing For Stressful Events 📝🎯
In our previous lectures we have discussed many types of stressful events 😰, ranging from being stuck in traffic 🚗, to starting day care 👶 or school 🏫, being overloaded with work 💼📈, going through a divorce 💔, and experiencing a disaster 🌪️. Preparing for these events 📝 often can reduce the potential for stress 📉. For instance, parents 👨👩👧 can help prepare a child 👶 for starting day care by taking the child there in advance 🏫 to see the place, meet the teacher 👩🏫, and play 🎮 for a while.
Many studies 📚 have been done to determine what methods are effective in preparing people psychologically 🧠 for surgery 🏥. The most clearly effective methods of preparing people for the stress 😰 of surgery are those designed to enhance the patients' feelings of control 🎮. Health psychologists 🧑⚕️ play key roles in dealing with all these issues.
In the next lecture, we will consider ways to manage stress 💪, that is, reduce the reaction to stress 📉 once it has begun.