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2, 1983
Two studies were conducted to explore the role of social intimacy in predict-
ing the indivMuars response to stress. In the first study the experimenter
reinforced the experimental subjects' verbalizations during an interview on
a fixed schedule for the first 3 minutes, withdrawing reinforcement for the
final 4 minutes. The control group received reinforcement on a fixed
schedule for the total 7 minutes. Subjects scoring low on a measure of
intimacy disclosed less personal material during the withdrawal period in
the experimental condition than in the control condition in contrast to high
scoring subjects who maintained their level of disclosure for both parts of
the interview. In the second study, previously experienced life change events
were assessed. IndivMuals lacking a current intimacy were found to be
prone to higher levels of emotional disturbance especially when many
previous negative or f e w positive life change events had occurred.
In the last 20 years there have been many investigations which focus on life
stress as an important antecedent of psychiatric and physical illness (e.g.,
Dohrenwend & Dohrenwend, 1974). However, Johnson and Sarason (1978)
point out that life stress alone most often accounts for less than 1070 of the
variance in the prediction of dependent measures and they suggest, as do
Rabkin and Streuning (1976), that predictive accuracy would be enhanced
by the identification of variables which function to moderate the deleterious
~This article is partially based on the first author's doctoral dissertation supervised by the
second author and submitted to the Psychology Department, University o f Waterloo, 1979.
The authors wish to t h a n k Ed Ware for his critical comments as well as Debbie Sherk and
Carl von Baeyer for their help in running subjects. This research was supported by a re-
search grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of C a n a d a 410-78-
0297 to the second author.
2All corresponaence should be sent to Rickey Miller, Psychology Department, Eaton Building,
Toronto General Hospital, University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
127
0091-0562/83/0400-0127503.00/0 1983PlenumPublishingCorporation
128 Miller and Lefcourt
effects of stressful events. Several studies have generated data which point
to social intimacy as one such moderating variable.
Brown, Sklair, Harris, and Birley (1973; Brown, Bhorlchain, & Harris,
1975; Brown, Harris, & Copeland, 1977; Brown & Harris, 1978) interviewed a
random sample of women living in London, England (n = 220) and a sample
of women who were being treated for a depressive episode which had emerged
within the previous year (n = 114). Each subject was screened for psychiatric
disturbance by a standardized interview. Brown et al. (1975) assessed recent
life change events and the presence of a confidant (someone with whom the
subject could discuss problems) and found that women who had ex-
perienced severe life events and who lacked a confidant were 10 times more
likely to become depressed than were those who had been similarly stressed
but who had a confidant.
Investigators exploring the individual's response to bereavement have
noted that widows and widowers who already had or who came to develop
close relationships with others after their loss evidenced a significantly
lower risk of illness and mortality than did those with only superficial rela-
tionships with friends and other relatives (Lynch, 1977; Jacobs & Charles,
1980).
In a study predicting the frequency of complications during
pregnancy, Nuckolls, Cassel, and Kaplan (1972) have presented data which
indicate that women who had superficial interpersonal relationships and
who had experienced high levels of stress prior to and during pregnancy
were three times more likely to suffer complications than were similarly
stressed women who had closer relationships with others. Lewis and Jones
(1980; Note 1) noted similar results in a study of pregnant adolescents. Those
women who experienced high levels of stress before and during pregnancy
and who reported receiving little support from family and friends
experienced significantly more complications during delivery than did
similarly stressed women who reported receiving more support from others.
The importance of intimacy in predicting the effects of stress has
received empirical support despite the imprecise global measures employed.
Brown and his associates asked their subjects a few questions to assess
whether or not they had a confidant; Nuckolls et al. (1972) assessed
subjects' feelings and perceptions of self, marriage, extended t'amily, social
resources, and pregnancy and referred to the composite as a measure of
social assets; Lewis and Jones (1980; Note 1) employed standardized rating
scales to assess the degree of social support available to their subjects. While
other researchers have developed measures of social support (e.g., Habif &
Lahey, 1980; Kaplan, 1977, cited in Turner, 1981; Sandler & Lakey, 1982)
none have directly assessed intimacy (depth of involvement) which has been
implicated as an important variable in predicting the individual's response
to stress.
Social lnlimacy 129
married students achieved a higher mean intimacy score than the married
clinic sample (t = 2.56, p < .02). These findings suggest the MSIS can be a
more precise measure of intimacy than the assessment of marital status.
In light of evidence supporting the reliability and validity of the MSIS,
two studies were designed to test the hypothesis that subjects lacking an
intimate relationship and who experience stress will be more prone to
psychological disturbance than will similarly stressed subjects who have an
intimate relationship.
The general assumption was that persons who enjoy an intimate
relationship are more apt to feel secure in their interactions with others.
Whether such security derives from feelings of being esteemed, of having an
opportunity for confirmation of one's views, or of having someone with
whom one can ventilate one's feelings, the result of such security is that the
individual should be more resilient or less vulnerable in facing various
potential stressors.
In the first study described below, a laboratory situation was created
in which subjects experienced a facsimile of social rejection, as was
evidenced in the growing disinterest of an interviewer who had solicited
their views about a number of issues. In the second study, actual life
stressors were assessed by a life events questionnaire. In both studies the
hypothesis was that subjects who scored low on the MSIS would experience
more distress than would subjects scoring higher on the MSIS as indicated
by avoidance behavior in the first study and self-reports of mood disturbance in
the second study.
STUDY 1
Method
Subjects
Procedure
Measures
This was done to examine for possible base rate differences in the behavior
of control and experimental subjects.
Results
H I G H M S I S - E X P T L GROUP
H I G H MStS-CONTROL GROUP
LOW M S I S - E X P T L GROUP
[~ LOW MSIS-CONTROL GROUP
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L~J
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CO
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LL
o
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<
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FIRST SECOND
INTERVIEW INTERVAL
Discussion
The findings from the experimental study are suggestive but must be
interpreted cautiously. While the data concerned with eye contact failed to
reflect the anticipated avoidance behavior, the ratings of disclosure did
reveal changes between conditions and intervals of the interview as a
function of intimacy scores. Those who scored low on the MSIS became less
disclosing in general as the interview proceeded beyond the first 3 minutes.
However, when the interviewer ceased to show interest in the subjects'
commentary an even more marked decline occurred in disclosure levels
among those low in intimacy. Subjects with high intimacy scores, on the
other hand, were not consistent in their responses. Those in the control
condition displayed the same sort of "winding down" as did the low-
intimate subjects. Those in the experimental condition retained their levels
of disclosure throughout the entire interview.
134 Miller and Lefcourl
Our findings suggest that persons who have closer relationships with
others may work to maintain interactions more often than those for whom re-
lationships are more distant. That high intimates "wind down" as do others
in the control conditions makes the performance of high intimates in the
experimental condition seem to be an "added effort" more than just a
maintenance of conversation.
These findings, then, suggest that in the unusual circumstances of one-
way communication that we required, the apparent withdrawal of a
listener's attention affects people differently, dependent upon their level of
intimacy with others. However, the confound deriving from varied
familiarity of experimenter and possible nonrepresentativeness of our
interview situation with its demand for a monologue give reason for caution
in the interpretation of the data.
STUDY 2
Method
Subjects
disturbance score is derived from summing the negative affects scores and
subtracting the vigor score from that total. The POMS scores used in the
study were the averages of the total mood disturbance from the four
administrations. (c) the Miller Social Intimacy Scale (MSIS).
Results
Table I. Hierarchically Arranged Multiple Regression of Total Mood Disturbance on Life Events
(A) and MSIS (B)
Independent Simple Cumulative R2 F
variables r R2 increment test p
First analysis
Negative life events A .41 .17 .17 13.60 < .001
Intimacy B -.49 .29 .12 9.60 < .005
Interaction AB -.20 .31 .02 1.87 n.s.
Second analysis
Positive life events A -.21 .05 .05 4.06 < .05
Intimacy B .49 .27 .22 17.89 < .001
Interaction AB .18 .32 .05 4.06 < .05
136 Miller and Lefcourt
HIGH MSIS
E3LOW MSIS
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negative life changes and who currently are enjoying a more intimate
relationship with someone else.
Figure 2 also reveals that subjects who score below the median on both
the positive life change and intimacy measures report the highest levels of
mood disturbance. The absence of positive events is most highly associated
with mood disturbance for individuals lacking an intimate relationship.
Subjects with scores above the median on positive events but who lack a
current intimacy, experience less mood disturbance than the previous
group. Subjects with a current intimacy are not differentiated by positive
life change scores. High intimacy subjects experience the lowest levels of
mood disturbance in general.
Social lnlimacy 137
Discussion
CONCLUSION
REFERENCE NOTES
1. Dise, J. E., & Jones, A. C. Psychological stress, social support systems, and prgenancy com-
plications in adolescents. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Psychological
Association, Montreal, 1980.
REFERENCES
Habif, V., & Lahey, B. Assessment of the life stress-depression relationship: The use of social
support as a moderator variable. Journal of Behavioural Assessment, 1980, 2, 167-173.
Jacobs, T., & Charles, E. Life events and the occurrence of cancer in children. Psychosomatic
Medicine, 1980, 42, 11-23.
Johnson, J., & Sarason, I. Recent developments in research on life stress. In V. Hamilton &
D. M. Warburton, (Eds.), Human stress and cognition: An information processing ap-
proach. New York: Wiley, 1978.
Lynch, J. The broken heart. New York: Basic Books, 1977.
McNair, D. M., Lorr, M. & Droppleman, L. F. Profile of mood states. San Diego: Edits,
1971.
Medalie, J. H., & Goldbourt, U. Angina pectoris among 10,000 men. American Journal of
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Miller, R. S., & Lefcourt, H. M' The assessment of social intimacy. Journal of Personality
Assessment, 1982, 46, 514-518.
Nuckolls, K., Cassel, J., & Kaplan, B. H. Psychosocial assets, life crisis and the prognosis of
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Rabkin, J., & Struening, E. Life events, stress and illness. Science, 1976, 94, 1013-1020.
Russell, D., Peplau, L. A., & Ferguson, M. C. Developing a measure of loneliness.
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Sandier, I. N., & Lakey, B. Locus of control as a stress moderator: The role of control percep-
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Thomas, C. B., & Duszynski, K. R. Closeness to parents and the family constellation in a
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Turner, R. J. Social support as a contingency in psychological well-being. Journal of Health
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