Social Support as a Moderator in Stress

Abstract

Social support is the most important of the situational factors being explored as a moderator variable. Social support is information leading a person to believe that he is cared for, esteemed, and a member of a network of communication and mutual obligation (Cobb,1976).Not all forms of social support are equally protective against stress(Lieberman,1982).But, different source of social support may be more effective for particular stressors. Similarly, the beneficial effects of social support need not be necessarily cumulative. Moreover, excessive or overly intrusive social support is found to exacerbate stress (Lieberman,1982;Suls and Helles,1983).Social support may have direct or moderating effects on job stress and subsequent outcomes. A number of studies have highlighted the role of social support as a moderator of the effects of stress (Nuckolls et al.,1972; De Araujo et al.,1973; Antonovsky,1974; Cobb,1976; Joseph,1989). Occupational stress research, particularly those incorporating moderator variables in the research design are very limited in India. Moreover, very few studies on job stress have been conducted in India exclusively on the women police personnel.