Influence of Stress and Social Support on Health Perceptions of Older Adults on the Rural Frontier

Abstract

This study tested the stress-buffering hypothesis (Cohen & Wills, 1985) on older adults living in rural Oklahoma. Participants included majority female, Caucasian, older adults aged 65 and older from rural Northwest Oklahoma. The Aiken and West (1991) method was used to analyze the independent effects of stress and support as well as the moderating effects of social resources on stress relative to perceived health. Analysis also determined if low levels of support or high levels of support were required to effect perceived health. Relative to results, three key findings emerged. First, greater life event stress appears to diminish positive health perceptions. Second, social support did not maintain a direct association with perceived health. Third, a higher degree of social support is negatively associated with a reduction in the noxious influence of life event stress on perceived health. Therefore, the original hypotheses were partially confirmed by the results.