Rena L. Repetti

Risky Families: Family Social Environments and the Mental and Physical Health of Offspring

Risky families are characterized by conflict and aggression and by relationships that are cold, unsupportive, and neglectful. These family characteristics create vulnerabilities and/or interact with genetically based vulnerabilities in offspring that produce disruptions in psychosocial functioning (specifically emotion processing and social competence), disruptions in stress-responsive biological regulatory systems, including sympathetic-adrenomedullary and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical functioning, and poor health behaviors, especially substance abuse. This integrated biobehavioral profile leads to consequent accumulating risk for mental health disorders, major chronic diseases, and early mortality. We conclude that childhood family environments represent vital links for understanding mental and physical health across the life span.

Employment and Women's Health Effects of Paid Employment on Women's Mental and Physical Health

This article reviews empirical evidence con- cerning the effects of paid employment on womens mental and physical health, with special attention to variations in the effects of employment depending on the character- istics of women and their jobs. We highlight methodolog- ical issues and focus primarily on studies with longitudinal data for representative samples of women. We conclude that womens employment does not have a negative effect on their health, on the average. Indeed, employment ap- pears to improve the health of unmarried women and married women who have positive attitudes toward em- ployment. Possible mediators linking employment to health outcomes are discussed. Current evidence suggests that increased social support from co-workers and super- visors may be one important mediator of the beneficial health effects of employment. Given the paucity of avail- able longitudinal studies, we encourage additional pro- spective research examining the mental and physical health consequences of employment according to job characteristics, personal characteristics, and disease out- come. We also recommend research on several promising mediators of employment-health relationships.

Effects of daily stress at work on mothers' interactions with preschoolers.

Thirty mother-preschooler dyads were studied for 5 consecutive weekdays. In addition to daily maternal reports of job stressors and parent-child interaction, a subsaraple of 13 dyads was videotaped during the parent-child reunion at the end of each workday. Mothers were much more likely to respond to an increase in job stressors by withdrawing than by becoming more irritable. Both mothers and independent observers described mothers as more behaviorally and emotionally withdrawn (e.g., less speaking and fewer expressions of affection) on days when the mothers reported greater workloads or interpersonal stress at work. Job stressors may have their strongest impact on the daily parenting behavior of mothers who generally experience higher levels of emotional distress (depressed or anxious mood) and, in particular, mothers who report more Type A behaviors. Patterns of interaction between family members change from day to day, often in quite significant ways. For example, why is it that on some days a parent is more easily provoked to scold her or his child or is moved to greater compassion? Many theorists maintain that families are best understood within the context of their broader environments or ecologies (Belsky, Steinberg, & Draper, 1991; Bronfenbrenner, 1989). This study focused on a parents employment situation as one important aspect of a familys ecology that may influence day

Classroom social experiences as predictors of academic performance.

A model linking childrens peer acceptance in the classroom to academic performance via academic self-concept and internalizing symptoms was tested in a longitudinal study. A sample of 248 children was followed from 4th to 6th grade, with data collected from different informants in each year of the study to reduce respondent bias. A path analysis supported the model; a lack of peer acceptance in the classroom in 4th grade predicted lower academic self-concept and more internalizing symptoms the following year, which in turn, predicted lower academic performance in 6th grade. An alternative path with internalizing symptoms predicting declines in peer acceptance was tested and received some support as well. Implications of the findings for schools are discussed.

Short-Term Effects of Occupational Stressors on Daily Mood and Health Complaints

This article related daily changes in 2 job conditions, workload and social interaction with co-workers and supervisors, to daily mood and health complaints. Fifty-two air traffic controllers (ATCs) completed measures of subjective well-being and perceived job conditions on 3 consecutive days; objective indicators of daily workload (air traffic volume and visibility at the airport) were also obtained. The results indicate that increases in job stressors are associated with a same-day deterioration in physical and psychological well-being. On days in which workload was perceived to be high, ATCs reported more health complaints and moods that were more negative and less positive. On days in which there was greater air traffic volume (objectively measured), ATCs reported moods that were more negative. On days in which interactions with co-workers and supervisors were described as more distressing, ATCs reported moods that were more negative and less positive.

Marital satisfaction, recovery from work, and diurnal cortisol among men and women.

DESIGN Multilevel modeling was used to model relationships between salivary cortisol, daily diary ratings of work experiences, and Marital Adjustment Test scores (Locke & Wallace, 1959), in a sample of 60 adults who sampled saliva 4 times per day over 3 days. RESULTS Among women but not men, marital satisfaction was significantly associated with a stronger basal cortisol cycle, with higher morning values and a steeper decline across the day. For women but not men, marital satisfaction moderated the within-subjects association between afternoon and evening cortisol level, such that marital quality appeared to bolster womens physiological recovery from work. For both men and women, evening cortisol was lower than usual on higher-workload days, and marital satisfaction augmented this association among women. Men showed higher evening cortisol after more distressing social experiences at work, an association that was strongest among men with higher marital satisfaction. CONCLUSION This work has implications for the study of physiological recovery from work, and also suggests a pathway by which marital satisfaction influences allostatic load and physical health.

Children's Peer Relations and Their Psychological Adjustment: Differences between Close Friendships and the Larger Peer Group

In a longitudinal study that followed children from fourth through sixth grades, we tested whether problems in childrens peer relations preceded psychological maladjustment and whether adjustment difficulties paved the way for poor social relationships. Both close friendships and peer group acceptance were examined. Our findings indicated that less peer acceptance predicted more internalizing and externalizing symptoms and less global self-worth two years later but that psychological adjustment did not predict future peer acceptance. Conversely, the lack of a supportive close friendship did not predict worse psychological functioning; however, depressive symptoms and low self-worth did predict less close friend support two years later. These findings highlight the importance of distinguishing the different kinds of social bonds that children form with peers.

Daily Self-Disclosure and Sleep in Couples

OBJECTIVE An emerging literature provides evidence for the association between romantic relationship quality and sleep, an important factor in health and well-being. However, we still know very little about the specific relationship processes that affect sleep behavior. Therefore, the goal of this study was to examine how self-disclosure, an important relational process linked to intimacy, relationship satisfaction, and health, is associated with sleep behavior. METHOD As part of a larger study of family processes, wives (n = 46) and husbands (n = 38) from 46 cohabiting families completed 56 days of daily diaries. Spouses completed evening diaries assessing daily self-disclosure, relationship satisfaction, and mood and morning diaries assessing the prior nights sleep. Multilevel modeling was used to explore the effects of both daily variation in and average levels across the 56 days of self-disclosure on sleep. RESULTS Daily variation in self-disclosure predicted sleep outcomes for wives, but not for husbands. On days when wives self-disclosed more to their spouses than their average level, their subjective sleep quality and sleep efficiency that night improved. Furthermore, daily self-disclosure buffered the effect of high negative mood on sleep latency for wives, but not husbands. In contrast, higher average levels of self-disclosure predicted less waking during the night for husbands, but not for wives. CONCLUSION The association between self-disclosure and sleep is one mechanism by which daily relationship functioning may influence health and well-being. Gender may play a role in how self-disclosure is associated with sleep.

Adult health in the context of everyday family life.

BackgroundCharacteristics of family life are linked both cross-sectionally and prospectively to adult mental and physical health.PurposeThis paper discusses social and biological processes that may explain how families influence the health of their members.MethodsWe review naturalistic studies of short-term biopsychosocial processes as they unfold within the family.ResultsDay-to-day fluctuations in stressors, demands, and social and emotional experiences in the family are reflected in short-term changes in adult members’ affect and in the activity of biological stress-response systems, particularly the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis.ConclusionsTo learn how family environments are linked to health, researchers should study the interlacing of different aspects of the everyday lives of family members, including their physiology, emotions, behavior, activities, and experiences.

Families Accommodating to Chronic Stress

The results of prolonged exposure to stressors can be observed in an individual’s emotions, cognitions, behaviors, and social life. Somehow, difficult life circumstances permeate and influence all aspects of psychological functioning. Finding a way to capture that phenomenon—the process by which persistent demands or strains gradually infiltrate and change an individual’s life—is a special challenge facing researchers. We approach that challenge by noting that when even small amounts of variance are explained in particular situations, the underlying processes can account for important long-term outcomes if the situations recur and the effects cumulate (Abelson, 1985). Chronic stress, by definition, recurs, and the effects certainly cumulate. One way to study this process of cumulation, then, is by examining acute responses to short-term increases in common daily stressors.