Chronic residential crowding and children's well-being: an ecological perspective.

Chronic residential crowding is associated with difficulties in behavioral adjustment at school, poor academic achievement, heightened vulnerability to the induction of learned helplessness, elevated blood pressure, and impaired parent-child interpersonal relationships among a sample of working-class, 10-to 12-year-old children living in urban India. The significant main effects of residential crowding on blood pressure and learned helplessness are moderated by gender. Residential crowding is positively associated with blood pressure only among boys and with helplessness only among girls. All analyses statistically control for household income. We then demonstrate that perceived parent-child conflict functions as an underlying, intervening process that largely accounts for several correlates of household crowding among children.

Social hassles and psychological health in the context of chronic crowding.

Data are presented on the interactive effects of an enduring environmental stressor with acute, daily social stressors on psychological distress. A cross-sectional study of males in urban India and a longitudinal study of male and female American college students examined the interplay of these two types of stressors. In India, social hassles in the home predicted psychological symptoms only among residents of crowded homes, after statistically adjusting for income. In America, the interaction between social hassles and crowding was replicated in analyses adjusting for prior psychological symptoms, prior social acquaintanceship with housemates, and income. A six-month follow-up study with the American sample replicated the interaction. In all three analyses of the social hassle-crowding interaction, there was a main effect of crowding but no main effect of social hassles on psychological symptoms. These findings suggest that some chronic environmental stressors may increase the impact of acute social stressors, and highlight the importance of examining contextual factors in the stress and health process.

Daily hassles and chronic strains: a hierarchy of stressors?

Among 105 poor, male heads of household in an urban center of India, common daily hassles were similar to those experienced by individuals from economically advantaged, western countries. However, we did not replicate the correlation between hassle frequency and mental health problems that has been previously found in a middle-class, western sample. In contrast to daily hassles, which include low-intensity, relatively discrete stressors (e.g. disagreement with spouse, missing a bus), chronic strains include ongoing social and environmental conditions that represent high-intensity stressors (e.g. substandard housing, inadequate access to water) that threaten survival. We found that chronic strains were associated with greater levels of psychosomatic symptomatology, as well as lower perceived social support. Furthermore, the correlation between chronic strains and psychosomatic symptoms increased when the effects of income were statistically controlled, suggesting that income attenuates the effects of chronic strains and that chronic strains affect symptoms independent of income. In sum, chronic strains may be a more valid and potent stressor than daily hassles in poor, urban populations in developing countries.

Residential density and psychological health: the mediating effects of social support.

People report excessive, unwanted social interactions, insufficient privacy, and are observed to be more socially withdrawn under crowded living conditions. If people socially withdraw from one another as a way to cope with crowding, this could lead to an unintended side effect of breakdowns in socially supportive relationships. A breakdown in socially supportive relationships could, in turn, account for some of the pathological consequences of chronic, high density living conditions. An empirical study of 175 male heads of household among inner city residents in India suggests that the adverse effects of residential crowding on psychological health are mediated by a breakdown of social support systems. The study also points to the value of examining social support as an endogenous variable in the stress and health process.

Type A behavior and occupational stress: a cross-cultural study of blue-collar workers.

Psychophysiological, archival, unobtrusive observation, and self-report data were compared for Type A and Type B male bus drivers in the United States and India. Type A bus drivers in comparison with their Type B counterparts have more accidents, absenteeism, official reprimands, and self-reports of occupational stress. In India, but not in the United States, Type A drivers brake, pass, and blow their horns more often than Type B drivers. Although drivers exhibited expected elevations in blood pressure and catecholamines on the job, the magnitude of these increases did not differ as a function of the Type A/B classification.