Uchino B N, Cacioppo J T, Kiecolt-Glaser J K
Department of Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City 84112, USA.
Psychol Bull. 1996 May;119(3):488-531. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.119.3.488.
In this review, the authors examine the evidence linking social support to physiological processes and characterize the potential mechanisms responsible for these covariations. A review of 81 studies revealed that social support was reliably related to beneficial effects on aspects of the cardiovascular, endocrine, and immune systems. An analysis of potential mechanisms underlying these associations revealed that (a) potential health-related behaviors do not appear to be responsible for these associations; (b) stress-buffering effects operate in some studies; (c) familial sources of support may be important; and (d) emotional support appears to be at least 1 important dimension of social support. Recommendations and directions for future research include the importance of conceptualizing social support as a multidimensional construct, examination of potential mechanisms across levels of analyses, and attention to the physiological process of interest.
在本综述中，作者审视了将社会支持与生理过程联系起来的证据，并描述了造成这些协变关系的潜在机制。对81项研究的回顾表明，社会支持与对心血管、内分泌和免疫系统各方面的有益影响存在可靠关联。对这些关联背后潜在机制的分析显示：（a）与健康相关的潜在行为似乎并非造成这些关联的原因；（b）压力缓冲效应在一些研究中起作用；（c）家庭支持来源可能很重要；（d）情感支持似乎至少是社会支持的一个重要维度。对未来研究的建议和方向包括将社会支持概念化为多维结构的重要性、跨分析层次审视潜在机制以及关注感兴趣的生理过程。
