Social demands, social supports, and psychological distress among low-income women

We investigate the association between social demands and psychological distress among low-income women. We argue that perceptions of excessive social demands can be psychologically distressing and examine the extent to which social demands predict psychological distress over 2 years. Our results reveal several important patterns. First, emotional, but not instrumental, demands are positively associated with psychological distress. Second, emotional and instrumental supports are more strongly associated with psychological distress than are emotional demands. Third, emotional support buffers the adverse effects of emotional demands. Finally, other chronic stressors, including economic hardship, neighborhood problems, and household disrepair, are more strongly associated with psychological distress than are social demands.