Occupational Stress, Social Support & Buffers

Haines, V.A., Hurlbert, J.S. & Zimmer, C. (1991). Occupational stress, social support, and the buffer hypothesis. Work and Occupations, 18(2), 212-235.

1) Purpose. The purpose of this study was to test three theoretical postulates regarding occupational stress, work support (degree of emotional concern, instrumental aid, and/or appraisal from one's co-workers, and supervisors), and strain (mental illness, physical illness, suicide). These postulates were:

(1) The differential exposure postulate - Different social groups are exposed to different levels of occupational stress.

(2) The differential access postulate - Different social groups have differential access to social support.

(3) The buffer postulate - The effects of stress on strain are linearly related to differences in social support; in other words, the greater the social support, the less effect of stress on strain. The authors were particularly concerned with the buffer postulate because they felt that prior research has shown strong support for it, but that methodological limitations (e.g. use of samples that did not represent diverse occupations) made it unlikely that support was as strong as has been found.

All postulates were derivative of the stress-strain model of health which holds that stress consists of an environmental change; the model states that individuals respond to this change by trying to adapt, and that when adaptive strategies are faulty, strain is the result. The model holds that one a

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