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... e things for themselves such as time with friends, relaxing, and shopping. In some cases, the only thing women have to support them could be a bad habit like smoking; it helps them cope and structures their time. This is a prime example of how a women's support on their family can impact their health.
The focus here is the nature of roles experienced by family members and their support for each other. According to Gove (1972), men generally have multiple major roles, like worker, breadwinner, household head, whereas married women generally occupy one major role, that of a house wife. Further, men find their roles satisfying, whereas women find their major role frustrating and demanding. Marital relationships, a part of our social environment, are especially important and a troubled marriage is a prime source of stress.
Supportive marriages are essential for good health. In discussing the family and work relations, social support is important for meeting needs of each family member that require fulfilment on a more or less daily basis and in critical events. Overall, the most supportive relationships between adults and family life appear to be those characterized by trust and intimate exchange. Social support may play a particularly important role in maintaining health and decreasing susceptibility to illness among the elderly. The elderly are at risk both for illness and for disruptions in their traditional sources of social support, for example, through the death of a spouse, retirement, or a sudden geographic move. The two popular stressors among the elderly, bereavement and retirement, will be examined on the relationship among social support, stressful life events, and health status.
A third stressor, involuntary relocation, will be examined with interest to the social meaning of the extent to which its health effects may be compromised by social support. As individuals age, people are added and subtracted from their social networks through death, changes in job and family life, and geographic moves. With these changes, the potential of the social network for providing social support also varies over time. Despite a contracting social world, as a consequence of the death of friends and relatives, geographic moves, most of the elderly have the basic ingredients for social support. Approximately fifty-six percent of the elderly are married, and four out of five have at least one surviving child (Treas, 1977). Among ninety-five percent of the elderly who are noninstitutionalized, approximately three-fourths see their children on a weekly basis (Shanas, 1979).
These statistics suggest a high degree of social contact for many of the elderly; however, other facts should not be overlooked. The lack of social support could cause ill health while at the same time, ill health could cause a decline in social support. Since, most elderly are institutionalized or live with their adult children they can become isolated because they lose their autonomy and their own sense of control. The study of Langer and Rodin (1976) revealed that nursing home residents who were given a plant to care for and encouraged to participate more actively in their own care had an eighteen-month mortality rate only half that of the control group. When discussing the elderly and social support, it is referred to as caregiving or caring when physical or mental health deteriorates such that the person receiving the support requires assistance.
Caregiving can have consequences for the health of the care recipient as well as for the caregiver. It has been estimated that family and friends provide between seventy-five and eighty-five percent of all personal care to seniors, regardless of whether the country has universal comprehensive health care insurance or not (Segall & Chappell, 2000, p. 197). Caregiver burden is very inclusive in the process of caring for the elderly. It refers to the configuration problems caused by caring for an impaired person and can include any negative implications for mental or physical, social or recreational involvement or finances (Segall & Chappell, 2000, p. 198). Caregivers are so focussed on the one they care for that they neglect their own physical needs. For instance, my grandmother past on in 1999 with Alzheimer's disease, nine months earlier her husband died due to various health problems.
Her husband, my grandfather, was her primary caregiver for ten years before she past away, in those ten years he neglected his own health and isolated his well-being from the social support he could have been given. Due to his devotion to his wife in caring and supporting her, he sadly past on because of health problems that could have been prevented. There are many other health effects that can derive from this type of social support. Bereavement, relocation, and retirement are all situations characterized by a presumed loss of support (Cohen & Syme, 1985, p. 202). To further acknowledge my personal experience with social support and its health effects, I suggest that social support becomes very important when bereavement is taking place.
When one is overwhelmed with feelings of sadness due to the loss of a loved one at any age, the support of family and friends, and formal supports such as doctors are valued. It is common for the bereaved individual to become ill because they have feelings of depression and neglect these feelings. Therefore, social support is essential in providing these individuals with better health and well-being. Unlike bereavement, relocation is more common among young adults then the elderly, however, it may have a more negative response from the elderly. The geographical location of an elderly person is detrimental to their social support. For instance, if an elderly person lives in a building where they have many friends, but are forced to be institutionalized because of their health, their peer social support diminishes and they may feel isolated and uncomfortable.
Even though, their health is being looked after, their social ties are disrupted as a consequence of relocation. My grandmother suffered from this consequence because of her illness. She was relocated several times between institutions and she never had the chance to feel comfortable and eventually she died. Once she became secure, her illness (she was a wanderer) over took and she was relocated again. Schultz and Brenner (1977) have suggested that carefully planned transfers and pre-relocation preparation programs may decrease mortality rates by increasing control or perceived sense of control among prospective relocates. Therefore, these new environments might provide independence and opportunities for richer relationships, positive health outcomes and improved functional independence.
Retirement is one other aspect relevant to the life of an elderly person. As Kasl noted, "retirement can be associated with so many important changes in one's life situation that the potential for adverse health effects should be overwhelming. " At the same time, it is "so richly embedded in a network of individual and social influences... that any hope of being able to trace health changes to retirement is small" (Kasl, 1977, p. 202). In my eye's retirement is the next step to a healthy life because of all the space and free time one has to enjoy. However, there can be some consequences in that some individuals social support can diminish.
Further, if one's associations with people at work is the basis of their social support, they have therefore lost that basis and derive negative health outcomes. Overall, both the sense of control and social support are key variables that help determine the nature and intensity of the impact of major stressors on the health of the aged. Social support is part of the normal daily life that we all experience. Ones interest in social support revolves around its association with our health and well-being. Good health is correlated with close marital relationships, close parent-child bonds and close friendships. These relationships were greatly discussed: the nuclear family and especially the care-taking adult, usually the mother, provides a social environment that can lead to good or ill health in both the early and later years of the child's life; family conflicts and marital conflicts in regards to role transitions and work reflect the quality of life and well-being of those family members; and social support may play a particular role in influencing the health of the elderly, either positively or negatively.
Each of the aspects above have shown how interpersonal relationships and communication of social support are links to one's health. Social support is significantly beneficial in influencing health in a persons' life course. A life course can be defined as the major life events and transitions an individual experiences between birth and death (Cohen & Syme, 1985, p. 130). During this life course, one's health and well-being is, at least in part, determined by the support received by one's social networks and interpersonal relations. Works Cited 1.
Cobb, S. (1976). " Social Support as a mediator of life stress. " Psychosomatic Medicine, 38, 300 - 314. 2. Cohen, S. and Syme S. L. (1985). Social Support and Health. Orlando, Florida: Academic Press, Inc. 3.
Gove, W. R. (1973). " Sex, marital status, and mortality." American Journal of Sociology, 79, 45 - 67. 4. Kasl, S. V. (1977). "Contributions of social epidemiology to study in psychosomatic medicine. " Advances in psychosomatic medicine: Epidemiologic studies in psychosomatic medicine. London: Wiley, 137 - 186. 5.
Langer, E. J. , & Rodin, J. (1976). "The effects of choice and enhanced personal responsibility for the aged: A field experiment in an institutional setting. " Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 34, 191 - 198. 6. Lehman, D. R. , Edward, J. H. & Woman C. B. (1986). "Social support for the bereaved: recipients' and providers' perspectives on what is helpful. " Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 53, 438 - 446. 7.
Levy, L. , Frankenhaeuser, M. , and Garden, B. (1982). "Report on work stress related to social structures and processes." Stress and Human Health. New York: Springer. 8. Lin, N. , Dean, A. , and Enter, W. , (1986). Social Support, Life Events, and Depression. Orlando, Florida: Academic Press, Inc. 9. Lynn, D.
B. (1974). The father: His role in child development. Monterey, CA: Brooks-Cole. 10. Orford, J. (1992). Community Psychology: Theory and Practice. Chichester: Wiley. 11.
Schulz, R. , & Brenner, G. (1977). "Relocation of the aged: A review and theoretical analysis. " Journal of Gerontology, 32, 323 - 333. 12. Segall, A. & Chappell, N. L. (2000). Health and Health Care in Canada.
Toronto: Prentice Hall. 13. Shanas, E. (1979). "The family as a social support system in old age. " The Gerontologist, 18, 169 - 174. 14. Treas, J. (1977). "Family Support systems for the aged: Some social and demographic considerations. " The Gerontologist, 17.
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Research essay sample on How Social Support In Relationships Affects One Health
