SOCIAL SUPPORT, STRESSFUL LIFE EVENTS, AND ILLNESS: A MODEL AND AN EMPIRICAL TEST

The effects of social support and stressors (stressful life events) on illness (psychiatric symptoms) are examined in a model with data from a representative sample of the Chinese-American adult population in Washington, D.C. The analysis shows that, as expected, stressors are positively related to the incidence of psychiatric symptoms, and social support is negatively related to psychiatric symptoms. Further, the contribution of social support to predicting symptoms is greater in magnitude than that of stressful life events. When marital status and occupational prestige are incorporated into the model, the significant (negative) contribution of social support to symptoms is not reduced. Implications for the theoretical development of a sociomedical theory of illness are discussed.