Daily stressors facilitate giving and receiving of emotional support in adulthood

Abstract

The aims of the present study were to examine whether daily stressors are associated with engagement in emotional support and whether these associations differ by gender. Analyses were conducted using Wave 2 of Midlife in the United States data and its subproject National Study of Daily Experiences. The sample consisted of adults aged 33 to 84 (N = 1,622). Using multinomial multilevel analysis, we looked at the associations between lagged and concurrent daily stressors with engagement in emotional support. For concurrent associations, people who experienced stressors were more likely to both give and receive, solely give, and solely receive emotional support compared with those who did not have any stressors. Women were more likely to engage in both giving and receiving of emotional support compared with men when they experienced stressors during the same day. In terms of the lagged associations, both men and women who experienced stressors during the previous day were more likely to both give and receive emotional support the next day compared with those who did not experience any stressors during the previous day. These results suggest that experiencing daily stressors facilitates giving and receiving of emotional support at daily level in adulthood.

The mixed benefits of a stressor-free life.

“…For example, people who did not report stressors were less likely to be married, and marital partners are the more common reason for daily arguments, one of the stressor types assessed in this study (Charles et al, 2009). In addition, people who reported no stressors also reported both receiving and providing less emotional support to others, consistent with prior findings (Joo et al, 2020). Three of the stressors assessed included social interactions, so fewer social partners may explain differences in these stressors.…”

Helping Amid the Pandemic: Daily Affective and Social Implications of COVID-19-Related Prosocial Activities

“…In contrast to the existing literature, perhaps the support received specifically for COVID-19 (e.g., comfort, supplies, help with children’s distance learning) was more appropriate and welcome in the current context, rather than unsolicited support that might imply incompetence ( Smith & Goodnow, 1999 ) or received support that threatens the recipient’s sense of independence ( Martire et al, 2002 ). Furthermore, support exchanges are a two-way street: people may have spontaneously given and received support in the same social interactions ( Joo et al, 2020 ), thus reducing the otherwise negative impact of received support on self-esteem ( Bolger et al, 2000 ). Lastly, the support received during COVID-19 may have been well matched with the recipient’s needs.…”

“…Because past research indicates that emotional support provision and receipt might occur on only an average of 2–3 days in a week ( Joo et al, 2020 ), we made an a priori decision to limit our analyses to only those participants who completed at least four of the seven evening surveys (i.e., ≥57% compliance rate) to ensure that we could more accurately capture the frequency of daily prosocial activities across a week. Of the 1,044 participants who met this criterion, an additional 16 participants were excluded from analyses for missing data on gender ( n = 2), education ( n = 1), and household income ( n = 13).…”

“…Although perceived social support is consistently associated with better outcomes, received support arises in response to stressful contexts and has less clear-cut associations with health and well-being ( Brown et al, 2003 ; Uchino, 2009 ). Received support has been linked to heightened same-day stress and NA, yet it can also contribute to greater feelings of closeness ( Bolger et al, 2000 ; Gleason et al, 2008 ; Joo et al, 2020 ). These effects may differ based on age: Received support could evoke negative reactions among older adults if the support is seen as undermining their independence ( Martire et al, 2002 ), whereas a mismatch between needed support and received support can be particularly detrimental for younger adults ( Wolff et al, 2013 ).…”

Effects of COVID-19 on Mental Health and Its Relationship With Death Attitudes and Coping Styles Among Hungarian, Norwegian, and Turkish Psychology Students

“…Fino et al (2020Fino et al ( , 2021b emphasized that physical and social isolation precautions related to COVID-19 might result in increased fear and distress regarding the disease itself among people. Additionally, some studies showed that stress may increase one's likelihood of seeking emotional support (Joo et al, 2020). Therefore, in our Norwegian sample, the relationship between emotional support and fear of death and neutral acceptance may be the other way around; that is, the higher fear of death level of the participants might have triggered their involvement in emotional support, and people with higher neutral acceptance may not feel the need to engage in emotional support.…”