Distal Stressors, Proximal Stressors, Social Resources and the Stress Process

Distal Stressors, Proximal Stressors, Social Resources and the Stress Process

Stressors and resources are examined for their role in the stress process across the life course. We expand the traditional concept of stressors to include both proximal stressors and distal stressors. Distal stressors reflect life events experienced in the distant past whereas proximal stressors reflect more recent experiences. Using a life history approach, stressors occurring over a 15 year period are examined for their effects on distress in three age groups: 32-49, 50-64, and 65 and above. We start by examining the extent to which distal stressors affect current distress beyond that accounted for by more proximal stressors. Next, the role of distal stressors in a stress model including social resources is examined. The data used here were collected in 1994 in the fourth wave of a panel study (initiated in 1979) in an urban area in up-state New York, USA. Analysis showed that distal and proximal stressors vary with regard to their frequency of occurrence across age groups. Distal stressors exert a significant impact on current depressive symptomatology above and beyond that exerted by more proximal stressors. That is, they improve variation explained in depression by the traditional stressor-distress model, Further, the inclusion of distal stressors in a revised stress model including social resources shows that the inclusion of these stressors significantly increases the variance explained in depression. Support is found for both independent and deterioration models of the life stress process. That is, when distal stressors, proximal stressors, and social resources are included in a life stress model, all three are found to have independent effects on current distress. In addition, both distal stressors and proximal stressors impact on current levels of social resources which, in tum, impact on current distress. The magnitude and nature of these effects vary across age groups, indicating that life stage plays a key role in this process. The implications of these and other findings are discussed and issues for future research are identified.