Class and Psychological Vulnerability Among Women: The Significance of Social Support and Personal Control

The major conclusion is that when social support and personal control are both high, these variables are entirely adequate to explain the relationship, however, they are perhaps not adequate in other circumstances.

Abstract

With the goal of adding to the understanding of the well-known relationship between class position and psychological distress, this study focuses on social support and personal control as two variables that have promise in accounting for this relationship. Using data from a sample of women who had recently given birth, analyses indicate that these two variables are important contributors to the class/distress relationship. Inspection of interaction effects demonstrates that the role and importance of both social support and personal control is conditional and complex, varying across both class grouping and stress level. Our major conclusion is that when social support and personal control are both high, these variables are entirely adequate to explain the relationship. However, they are perhaps not adequate in other circumstances.