Erina L. MacGeorge

Academic Stress, Supportive Communication, and Health.

Academic stress is associated with a variety of negative health outcomes, including depression and physical illness. The current study examined the capacity of supportive communication reported as being received from friends and family to buffer the association between academic stress and health. College students completed measures of academic stress, of supportive communication received (emotional and informational), and of health status (depression and symptoms of physical illness). Results indicated that the positive association between academic stress and depression decreased as informational support increased. In addition, emotional support was negatively associated with depression across levels of academic stress. The findings are discussed with respect to reducing negative health outcomes for individuals experiencing academic stress.

Support providers' interaction goals: the influence of attributions and emotions

The current study examines cognitive and emotional influences on the formation of interaction goals. Specifically, it develops and assesses an extension of Weiners attribution-emotion-intention model of helping (e.g., Weiner, 1995) to the prediction of support providers goals. 608 college students read situations manipulating attributions of responsibility, stability, and effort with regard to a friend who was seeking support. They subsequently responded to measures of emotional response (anger, sympathy), interaction goals, and attributions. Attributions were found to influence goals both directly and through the mediation of emotion, though the character of this influence depended strongly on the goal. The results suggest that at least some variability in the effectiveness and sensitivity of supportive communication can be explained by support providers goals. They also indicate the need for continued, closer examination of cognitive and emotional influences on interaction goals and behaviors.

Skill Deficit or Differential Motivation? Testing Alternative Explanations for Gender Differences in the Provision of Emotional Support

Although researchers have proposed a skill deficit account for observed gender differences in the provision of emotional support, few studies have directly tested the claim that men are less capable of providing effective support. This study advances an alternative account for gender differences in the effectiveness of supportive communication, arguing that gender differences may emerge because men and women respond differently to situational factors that influence the motivation to provide sensitive emotional support. Participants produced emotional support messages in response to scenarios varying in target gender, target responsibility for the problem, and target effort to resolve the problem, as well as in response to the problem itself (a replication factor included to increase generalizability). Women produced messages exhibiting greater emotional sensitivity than those of men across the other factors examined, providing support for the skill deficit account and failing to provide evidence of differential motivation.

Sex differences in the provision of skillful emotional support: The mediating role of self‐efficacy

This study focuses on associations between sex, self‐efficacy in the domain of emotional support, and the skillfulness (person centeredness) of emotional support messages. In particular, it examines whether self‐efficacy mediates the effect of sex on emotional support skill, and whether targets’ responsibility for their problems moderates this mediating effect. Participants )N = 715) produced messages in response to scenarios depicting distressed friends who were or were not responsible for their problems, and completed a measure of self‐efficacy. Compared to men, women produced emotional support messages with a higher level of person centeredness and reported greater self‐efficacy in the domain of providing emotional support. Regression analyses indicated that self‐efficacy mediated approximately 30% of the sex‐related variance in person centeredness. Target responsibility did not moderate this mediating effect.

Stress, Social Support, and Health Among College Students After September 11, 2001

The current study was designed to examine associations among stress due to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, social support, and health (depression and physical illness) in a college student sample. In December 2001, students from Eastern universities (N= 666; 482 women, 184 men; average age 19.5 yrs.) completed measures of stress from terrorism (developed by the authors), supportive behaviors received from friends and family (Experienced Support Scale; Xu & Burleson, 2001), symptoms of depression (Depression Anxiety Stress Scale; Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995), and illness (Pennebaker Inventory of Limbid Languidness; Pennebaker, 1982). The results indicate that even among college students with low exposure to the 9/11 attacks, terrorism-related stress was associated with greater depressive and illness symptoms (p < .05), and that emotional and tangible support were associated with fewer symptoms (p < .05). Findings are considered for their practical implications for college students and personnel.