Am J Psychiatry 1988; 145:1259-1264
Copyright © 1988 by American Psychiatric Association
Perceived personal networks as mediators of stress reactions
P Steinglass, E Weisstub and AK De-Nour
George Washington University Medical School, Washington, DC 20037.
The evacuation of an Israeli community in the Sinai peninsula afforded an
unusual opportunity to study the longitudinal relationships between
personal network characteristics and psychosocial adjustment. Friendship
network characteristics proved highly stable longitudinally but were poor
predictors of long-term adjustment. The kinship network characteristics
before relocation were better predictors, despite the fact that kin were
not actually present in the community before relocation. These data support
a hypothesis that the perception of social embeddedness rather than the
actual availability of social supports mediates reactions to stressful life
events.
