Dataset Information

Social Support in Two Cultures: Everyday Transactions in the U.S. and Empathic Assurance in Japan.

ABSTRACT: We studied received social support using the cross-cultural method of situation sampling. College students from the US and Japan described and rated recent examples of received social support, both everyday support as well as support in response to stress. Middle class, European-American (EuA) students' situations fit a model in which support is frequent and offered freely in interactions, even for relatively minor issues. Even when it's unrequested, EuA support makes recipients feel in control, and support-givers are perceived to have acted by free choice. In contrast, results suggest that middle-class Japanese (Jpn) contexts favor support that is empathic and responsive to the recipients' degree of need. Japanese support was experienced positively when it was emotional support, when it was in more serious situations and when the support was rated as needed by the recipient. In Japan, although problem-based support is most common, it is not particularly positive, apparently because it is less likely to be perceived as needed.

SUBMITTER: Morling B

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4479601 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Social Support in Two Cultures: Everyday Transactions in the U.S. and Empathic Assurance in Japan.

Morling Beth B Uchida Yukiko Y Frentrup Sandra S

PloS one 20150624 6

We studied received social support using the cross-cultural method of situation sampling. College students from the US and Japan described and rated recent examples of received social support, both everyday support as well as support in response to stress. Middle class, European-American (EuA) students' situations fit a model in which support is frequent and offered freely in interactions, even for relatively minor issues. Even when it's unrequested, EuA support makes recipients feel in control, ...[more]

PMID: 26107165

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Project description:BackgroundPersistent pain during pregnancy is a significant health issue, which could be correlated with psychological distress resulting from inadequate social support. This study aims to investigate whether the relationship between poor social support and antenatal pain is mediated by psychological distress. We also aimed to examine whether social cohesion moderates the influence of psychological distress on the relationship between social support and antenatal pain.MethodsWe analysed 94,517 pregnancies of women from a Japanese national birth cohort completed questionnaires assessing pain, psychological distress, social support and social cohesion. Psychological distress was assessed using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale. Two types of models were used: the mediation model to examine whether the association between social support and pain was mediated by psychological distress; the moderated mediation model to analyse whether social cohesion buffered the negative effect of inadequate social support on pain. Demographic, socioeconomic and psychological factors were controlled for in all analyses.ResultsPsychological distress was fully mediated the association between social support and pain. Social cohesion had a focal moderation effect on the inverse association between social support and psychological distress (unstandardized regression coefficient [β] = 0.09; 95% CI, 0.07-0.11) and functioned as moderator for the indirect effect of social support on antenatal pain (index of moderated mediation = 0.006; 95% CI, 0.004-0.007).ConclusionsPoor social support was related to antenatal pain through psychological distress, possibly buffered by social cohesion. During the antenatal period, social support and cohesion are important for women.SignificanceIn this study, poor social support was found to be associated with pain intensity during pregnancy, which was mediated by psychological distress and might be buffered by desirable social cohesion. This finding could potentially help healthcare providers and policy makers to understand the importance of desirable social cohesion in preventing pain among pregnant women.

Dataset Information

Social Support in Two Cultures: Everyday Transactions in the U.S. and Empathic Assurance in Japan.

Publications

Social Support in Two Cultures: Everyday Transactions in the U.S. and Empathic Assurance in Japan.

Similar Datasets

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