In a study of married, first-year seminary students and their partners support was found for the hypothesis that relational resources can buffer the impact of stressors accumulating for these theological students and their partners. Specifically, there was evidence that high quality marital resources (global satisfaction and marital-spiritual orientation) and family resources (immediate and extended) possessed at entry to theological studies were associated with lower levels of stress reported later in that program. In addition, high levels of stress appeared to reduce marital satisfaction and quality of friendships, whereas low-stress persons reported improvement in their already higher quality marital resources as well as improved friendship resources. The hypothesis was not supported with respect to the buffering effects of entry level quality of friendships or personal-spiritual resources.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BarreraM. (1986). Distinctions between social support concepts, measures, and models. American Journal of Community Psychology, 14, 413–445.
2.
BeachS. R., MartinJ. K., BlumT. C., & RomanP. M. (1993). Effects of marital and coworker relationships on negative affect. American Journal of Family Therapy, 21, 313–323.
3.
BurmanB., & MargolinG. (1992). Analysis of the association between marital relationships and health problems: An interactional analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 112, 39–63.
4.
CohenS., & WillsT. (1985). Stress, social support, and the buffering hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 98, 310–357.
5.
GoldbergL., & BreznitzS. (1993). Handbook of stress: Theoretical and clinical aspects.New York: Free Press.
6.
HainesV. A., HurlbertJ. S., & ZimmerC. (1991). Occupational stress, social support, and the buffer hypothesis. Work and Occupation, 18, 212–235.
7.
HaysW. L. (1973). Statistics for the social sciences.New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.
8.
HillR. (1958). Generic features of families under stress. Social Casework, 39, 139–150.
9.
KaufmannG. M., & BeehrT. A. (1986). Interactions between job stressors and social support: Some counterintuitive results. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71, 522–526.
10.
LaveeY., McCubbinH., & PattersonJ. (1985). The Double ABCX Model of family stress and adaptation: An empirical test by analysis of structural equations with latent variables. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 47, 811–825.
11.
LazarusR., & FolkmanS. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping.New York: Springer.
12.
McCubbinH., & PattersonJ. (1982). Family adaptation to crisis. In McCubbinH., CaubleA., & PattersonJ. (Eds.), Family stress, coping and social support (pp. 26–47). Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.
13.
McCubbinH., PattersonJ., & WilsonL. (1992). FILE: Family inventory of life events. In OlsonD., McCubbinH., BarnesH., LarsenA., MuxenM., & WilsonM. (Eds.), Family inventories (pp. 83–105). Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota.
14.
MedererH., & HillR. (1983). Critical role transitions over the family life-cycle. Marriage and Family Review, 6, 39–60.
15.
MonatA., & LazarusR. (1991). Stress and coping: An anthology.New York: Columbia University Press.
16.
OlsonD., & BarnesH. (1992). Quality of life. In OlsonD., McCubbinH., BarnesH., LarsenA., MuxenM., & WilsonM. (Eds.), Family inventories (pp. 71–82). Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota.
17.
OlsonD., FournierD., & DruckmanJ. (1992). ENRICH: Enriching and nurturing relationship issues, communication, and happiness. In OlsonD., McCubbinH., BarnesH., LarsenA., MuxenM., & WilsonM. (Eds.), Family inventories (pp. 45–55). Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota.
18.
OlsonD., McCubbinH., BarnesH., LarsenA., MuxenM., & WilsonM. (1983). Families: What makes them work.Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
19.
OlsonD., McCubbinH., BarnesH., LarsenA., MuxenM., & WilsonM. (1989). Families: What makes them work.Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
PerlmanD., & RookK. (1987). Social support, social deficits and the family: Toward the enhancement of well-being. In OskampS. (Ed.), Family processes and problems: Social psychological aspects. Applied social psychology annual. Vol. 7 (pp. 17–44). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.
22.
RookK. (1987). Social support versus companionship: Effects on life stress, loneliness, and evaluation by others. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 1132–1147.
23.
SelyeH. (1956). The stress of life.New York: McGraw-Hill.
24.
SelyeH. (1974). Stress without distress.New York: Lippincott.
25.
SelyeH. (1993). History and present status of the stress concept. In GoldbergL., & BreznitzS. (Eds.), Handbook of stress: Theoretical and clinical aspects (pp. 7–17). New York: Free Press.
26.
VauxA., & HarrisonD. (1985). Support network characteristics associated with support satisfaction and perceived support. American Journal of Community Psychology, 13, 245–268.
27.
WalkerA. J. (1985). Reconceptualizing family stress. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 49, 827–837.
