Sociocultural Factors: Quick Reference

Socioeconomic Status (SES)

• SES and Stress: SES is linked to stress levels; higher or lower SES affects exposure to stressors and health outcomes.
• Role of subjective SES: Perception of social status can influence stress independently of objective measures.
• Chronic stressors: SES relates to ongoing stressors (e.g., living situation, finances, employment).
• Mediators: Race, hostility, perceived control can mediate the SES–stress–health relationship.

Subjective SES

• Definition: Perception of one’s social status relative to others.
• Stress link: Feeling others are better off can induce stress.
• Ayalon (2008): Long-term care staff; assessed burnout, positive caregiving, subjective SES, objective SES.
• Result:
  earrow ext{perceived SES}
  ightarrow
  ext{lower burnout} ext{ and more positive caregiving} \

SES and Chronic Stressors

• Lower SES associated with more socioecologic stressors: living situation, financial status, employment.
• More stressors → greater impact on health; stress acts as a mediator between SES and health outcomes.

SES and Ethnicity/Race

• Ethnicity may mediate SES–stress/health effects.
• Disadvantaged minorities often have lower SES.
• African-Americans: higher hypertension risk observed.
• Latin-Americans: not consistently higher hypertension risk despite low SES.
• Discrimination may explain these differences.

SES and Perceived Control

• Low perceived control correlates with stress and negative health outcomes.
• Work stress more common in lower SES groups.
• Chronic stressors reported: conflict, boredom, social strain, hostility, job insecurity, dangerous conditions.
• Why more stressful at lower SES? Job position affects respect and appraisal; SES shapes environmental appraisal; lower SES groups experience less control.

Christie & Barling (2009)

• Participants: n=3{,}419 Canadian workers.
• Measured: income, occupational prestige, education; personal control (mastery scale); work stressors (Karasek); health problems.
• Results: ext{lower income}, ext{lower prestige}, ext{lower education}
  ightarrow ext{more work stress and less personal control}; personal ext{ control}
  ightarrow ext{more work stressors over time}
  ightarrow ext{more health problems}

Karasek's Job Strain Model

• Axes: Psychological demands vs. Job control.
• Quadrants:
  • Low Strain: D{low} ext{ and } C{high}
  • Active: D{high} ext{ and } C{high}
  • High Strain: D{high} ext{ and } C{low}
  • Passive: D{low} ext{ and } C{low}
• Caption: Figure 1. Karasek's job strain model.

Stress and Cultural Differences

• Culture defined as a group with shared values, characteristics, and interests.
• Culture influences the stress response across four areas: types of stressors, appraisal, coping strategies, institutional coping mechanisms (Aldwin, 2000).

Culture and Types of Stressors

• Cultures create different stressor sets: social role expectations, geopolitical circumstances, values, and subcultures.
• Poverty and affluence each bring unique stressors.

Culture and the Appraisal of Stressors

• Meaning of stress differs across cultures.
• What is considered stressful varies; influenced by conscious/unconscious processes and family/social ties.

Culture and the Choice of Coping Strategies

• Coping is mediated by cultural values.
• Examples:
  • Emotional expression may be less acceptable in some Asian cultures.
  • Bodily symptoms may be emphasized in those cultures.
  • Spiritual coping and collective vs. individualistic coping patterns.

Independent vs Interdependent Cultures

• Distinct patterns in self-construal influence cognitive appraisals in trauma/PTSD.
• Independent (individualist) vs. Interdependent (collectivist) cultures affect how trauma narratives are processed.

Independent vs Interdependent Cultures (O’Kearney & Jobson, 2009)

• Participants: N=106 trauma survivors; narratives coded for negative cognitive appraisals (e.g., mental defeat, control strategies).
• Culture groups: Independent (individualist) vs Interdependent (collectivist);
• PTSD status: PTSD vs no PTSD.

O’Kearney & Jobson (2009): Results

• Mean rating for mental defeat varied by culture and PTSD status.
• The figure shows higher mental defeat in independent cultures with PTSD and different patterns across groups; there is an interaction between culture type and PTSD status on cognitive appraisal.

Sociocultural Trends

• People live longer due to increased life expectancy.
• Marriage is delayed.
• Couples have fewer children.
• More adult children live at home while pursuing higher education.
• Increased number of adult children returning home after divorce (Pierret, 2006).