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Biomedical subjects

C B Wortman

Publications and source records attributed to C B Wortman.

27 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1985

Social factors in psychopathology: stress, social support, and coping processes.

Our review has focused centrally on the etiologic significance of social factors in the development of psychopathology. Our implicit assumption has been that social factors in general, and stressors in particular, may play a causal role in the development of psychopathology. Yet the evidence is clear that the vast majority of people who are exposed to stressful life events or to chronic stress situations do not develop significant psychiatric impairments. For this reason, research interest over the past decade has shifted to factors like social support and coping strategies that may ameliorate the impact of stress. We have examined some of the important empirical results from recent studies of stress, support, and coping, and we have discussed ways in which these new understandings have informed long-standing attempts to explain group differences in emotional functioning. In each section of the review we have attempted not only to summarize existing results but also to provide some evaluation of the literature and suggestions for future research. It is important to recognize that the contributors to the work reviewed here do not all share a common research agenda. Some of them are primarily committed to unraveling the psychosocial determinants of a particular clinical disorder. Others are mainly concerned with the effects of a particular stressor. Still others are interested in the processes that link stress to health across a broad array of stress situations and health outcomes. In the face of these diverse interests, it is little wonder that our understanding of social factors in psychopathology is uneven. There is good reason to believe, however that these diverse strands of research are beginning to converge on a common conception of the stress process and on a common research design. The conception at present is only in rough form, but its outlines are nonetheless capable of description. At its center is the notion that stress exposure sets off a process of adaptation. It recognizes that this process unfolds over time, and it acknowledges that this process is modified by structural factors as well as by personal dispositions and vulnerabilities. There is growing recognition that the analysis of this process requires longitudinal methods. Also, it is becoming increasingly clear that experimental interventions are required to unravel the parts of this process that link stress and health. It is too early to know if this nascent convergence will lead to an integrative theory of adaptation, yet it is almost certain to promote methodological and conceptual rigor and facilitate replication and cumulation of findings.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1984

Social support and the cancer patient. Conceptual and methodologic issues.

In this paper, an attempt has been made to provide an overview of the major issues facing cancer researchers who are interested in the conceptualization and measurement of social support. Taken as a whole, the literature reflects a growing appreciation for the complexity of the social-support construct, and a need for greater conceptual and research specificity. The following issues were discussed: (1) the importance of measuring support in a way that will permit assessment of distinct types of support (e.g., emotional support, advice) by distinct providers (e.g., spouse, physician) since available evidence suggests that the impact of support is strongly affected by these factors; (2) the importance of using a multimethod approach to support measurement which includes both structural aspects and subjective assessments of the adequacy of the support network; and the problems inherent in assuming that structural variables alone are an indication of the adequacy of support; (3) the importance of considering negative as well as positive support, since there is evidence suggesting that such behaviors may be very prevalent in the interactions between cancer patients and those in their support network that they may have strong influence on subsequent health outcomes; (4) the need to consider the perspective of the provider as well as the recipient in obtaining judgments of the effectiveness of particular kinds of support, given the evidence that providers sometimes make attempts to be supportive that are regarded as unhelpful; (5) the importance of focusing on actual utilization as well as availability of the support network, since an understanding of how people mobilize their support networks has important theoretical and practical implications; and, finally, (6) the importance of studying more explicit, specific behaviors that occur between cancer patients and those in their support network, as well as more general judgments regarding whether support is adequate. Investigators in the social support area agree that it is time to move beyond demonstrations of a relationship between support and health outcomes to a more careful explication of the processes underlying support. This review highlights the importance of designing research that will shed light on the precise mechanisms through which support influences health outcomes. Hopefully, such research will clarify how social support interacts with other important psychosocial variables such as coping strategies and self-esteem.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1977

Attributions of blame and coping in the "real world": severe accident victims react to their lot.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relation between victims' attributions of causality for their accidents and their ability to cope with severe misfortune. A total of 29 individuals who had been paralyzed in serious accidents were intensively interviewed. Both quantitative and open-ended questions were used to elicit attributions of blame and causality by respondents; coping scores were obtained from a social worker and a nurse familiar with each respondent's case. Findings suggested that blaming another and feeling that one could have avoided the accident were successful predictors of poor coping; self-blame was a successful predictor of good coping. The question, "Why me?" was posed by all respondents, and 28 of the 29 related specific hypotheses that they entertained to explain why the accident had happened to them. Their responses seemed to illustrate the respondents' need for meaning in explaining the selective incidence of the accident.

Accidents↗
PubMed1976

Self-disclosure: an attributional perspective.

This experiment examined the effect of timing of an intimate disclosure and assignment of responsibility for the event disclosed on interpersonal attraction. Subjects were induced to interact with a confederate who in all cases revealed something quite personal about himself. The disclosure occurred either early or near the end of a 10-minute conversation. The confederate accepted responsibility for the event disclosed, did not mention responsibility, or assigned responsibility to external factors. Negative traits were assigned to the early disclosure, and he was liked significantly less than the late discloser. The results are explained in terms of differential attributions made to early and late disclosures. The results for the assignment of responsibility variable were surprising: The confederate who accepted responsibility for the event disclosed elicited more negative reactions than the confederate who blamed other factors or who did not mention responsibility. Some possible reasons for this unexpected finding are discussed.

Humans↗