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Social stress is stress that stems from one's relationships with others and from the social environment in general. Based on the appraisal theory of emotion, stress arises when a person evaluates a situation as personally relevant and perceives that they do not have the resources to cope or handle the specific situation.[1][2][clarification needed]
The activation of social stress does not necessarily have to occur linked to a specific event, the mere idea that the event may occur could trigger it. This means that any element that takes a subject out of their personal and intimate environment could become a stressful experience. This situation makes them socially incompetent individuals.[3]
There are three main categories of social stressors.[4] Life events are defined as abrupt, severe life changes that require an individual to adapt quickly (ex. sexual assault, sudden injury).[5] Chronic strains are defined as persistent events which require an individual to make adaptations over an extended period of time (ex. divorce, unemployment).[5] Daily hassles are defined as minor events that occur, which require adaptation throughout the day (ex. bad traffic, disagreements).[5] When stress becomes chronic, one experiences emotional, behavioral, and physiological changes that can put one under greater risk for developing a mental disorder and physical illness.[6]
Humans are social beings by nature, as they typically have a fundamental need and desire to maintain positive social relationships.[7] Thus, they usually find maintaining positive social ties to be beneficial. Social relationships can offer nurturance, foster feelings of social inclusion, and lead to reproductive success.[8] Anything that disrupts or threatens to disrupt their relationships with others can result in social stress. This can include low social status in society or in particular groups, giving a speech, interviewing with potential employers, caring for a child or spouse with a chronic illness, meeting new people at a party, the threat of or actual death of a loved one, divorce, and discrimination.[9][10][11][12] Social stress can arise from one's micro-environment (e.g., family ties) and macro-environment (e.g., hierarchical societal structure). Social stress is typically the most frequent type of stressor that people experience in their daily lives and affects people more intensely than other types of stressors.[13]
- ^ Smith, C. A., & Lazarus, R. S. (1990) Emotion and adaptation. In L. A. Pervin (Ed.), Handbook of Personality: Theory and Research (pp. 609-637). New York:Guilford.
- ^ Haller, József (2015). "Stress and the social brain: behavioural effects and neurobiological mechanisms" (PDF). Nature Reviews. Neuroscience. 16 (5): 290–304. doi:10.1038/nrn3918. PMID 25891510. S2CID 38141791.
- ^ Spencer, Karen A. (2017-08-19). "Developmental stress and social phenotypes: integrating neuroendocrine, behavioural and evolutionary perspectives". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 372 (1727): 20160242. doi:10.1098/rstb.2016.0242. PMC 5498302. PMID 28673918.
- ^ Levine, S., 2017. Social stress. New York: Routledge.
- ^ a b c Carr, Deborah; Umberson, Debra (2013-01-01). "The Social Psychology of Stress, Health, and Coping". In DeLamater, John; Ward, Amanda (eds.). Handbook of Social Psychology. Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research. Springer Netherlands. pp. 465–487. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-6772-0_16. ISBN 978-94-007-6771-3.
- ^ Kreiger, Nancy (2001). "Theories for social epidemiology in the 21st century: an ecosocial perspective". International Journal of Epidemiology. 30 (4): 668–677. doi:10.1093/ije/30.4.668. PMID 11511581.
- ^ Slavich, George M; O'Donovan, Aoife; Epel, Elissa S; Kemeny, Margaret E (September 2010). "Black sheep get the blues: a psychobiological model of social rejection and depression". Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews. 35 (1): 39–45. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2010.01.003. PMC 2926175. PMID 20083138.
- ^ Baumeister, R F; Leary, M R (May 1995). "The need to belong: desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation". Psychological Bulletin. 117 (3): 497–529. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.117.3.497. PMID 7777651. S2CID 13559932.
- ^ Kessler, R. C. (1979). Stress, social status, and psychological distress.Journal of Health and Social behavior, 259-272.
- ^ Taylor, J., & Turner, R. J. (2002). Perceived discrimination, social stress, and depression in the transition to adulthood: Racial contrasts. Social Psychology Quarterly, 213-225.
- ^ Booth, A., & Amato, P. (1991). Divorce and psychological stress. Journal of health and social behavior, 396-407.
- ^ Lazarus, R. S., & Launier, R. (1978). Stress-related transactions between person and environment. In Perspectives in interactional psychology (pp. 287-327). Springer US.
- ^ Almeida, David M. (April 2005). "Resilience and Vulnerability to Daily Stressors Assessed via Diary Methods". Current Directions in Psychological Science. 14 (2): 64–68. doi:10.1111/j.0963-7214.2005.00336.x.