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American Sociological Association

Stress, Social Status, and Psychological Distress

Author(s): Ronald C. Kessler
Source: Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Vol. 20, No. 3 (Sep., 1979), pp. 259-272
Published by: American Sociological Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2136450
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Stress,Social Status,and Psychological
Distress
RONALD C. KESSLER
Universityof Wisconsin-Madison

Journalof Health and Social Behavior 1979, Vol. 20 (September):259-272

It has long been knownthatpersons in socially disadvantaged statuses are particularlylikelyto

exhibitsymptomsofpsychological distress. Whythisis so remainsthe subject of controversy.
This paper sheds some lighton the controversyby analyzing survey data on stress, social
status, and psychological distress. Two components of the status-distressrelationshipare
isolated empirically:(1) a differential
exposureto stresscomponent,interpretable as one sortof
social causation influence;and (2) a componentdue to the differential impact of comparable
stresseson people in different categories of variousstatus dimensions.The analysis shows that
differentialimpactis themoreimportantdeterminantin relationshipsbetweensocial class, sex,
and maritalstatus and self-reported distress. Onlyin the comparisonof whitesto nonwhitesis
differential exposure the key determinant.The implicationsof these findingsfor our under-
standingof the social status-psychological distressrelationshipare discussed.

A centralproblemto emergefromthe study place over a successionof generationsand

of sociodemographiccorrelatesof mentaldis-
order has been to explain why persons in cer-
tain disadvantaged social statuses have the
highrates of emotional distress they do. The
earliestwork on this problemconcerned itself
with social class (Faris and Dunham, 1939;
Hollingsheadand Redlich, 1958; Langner and
Michael, 1963). But over thelast two decades a
great deal of research has also been directed
towardthe overrepresentation of certainemo-
tional problems among the unmarried(Bach-
rach, 1975), women (Weissman and Klerman,
1977), and nonwhites (Dohrenwend and
Dohrenwend, 1970).1
Two generalsortsof explanationshave been
offeredforthe relationshipbetween disadvan-
taged social status and emotional distress. (1)
The firstsays that persons who either have
chronic emotional problems, or are prone to
develop such problems,are channeled intothe
ranks of the unmarried and into the lower
class, the latter channeling possibly taking
Workon thispaperwas partiallysupportedby
NIMH GrantsNo. 5 T32 MH14641-02and 1 R03
MH32490-01. I wishto thankJeromeK. Myersand
hisassociatesforgenerously metouse their
allowing
datain thispaper.Theirresearchwas supportedby
PHS ContractNo. 43-67-743and ResearchGrant
No. MH15522 fromthe National Instituteof Mental
Health,Department
of Health,Educationand Wel-
fare. I wish to thank Cris Laskowski for providing
computerassistanceand Ron Diamondfor dis-
cussions.The comments
oftheanonymous
review-
ers wereextremely
helpful.
beingcharacterized byan inabilityto moveup,
as wellas bya tendency todriftdown,theclass
hierarchy. This explanationhas been associ-
ated withthe"drift"hypothesis in thelitera-
tureon socialclassandmentalillness,andwith
the"social selection"hypothesis in thelitera-
tureon maritalstatusandmentalillness.How-
ever, it is betterdescribedgenericallyas a
"constitutional frailty"explanation,2because
itemphasizesintrapsychic propensities to dis-
tressratherthanenvironmental influences. (2)
A second set of explanations,on the other
hand,has emphasizedthe importance of life
conditions as determinantsofemotional disor-
der. Althoughnot limitedto one hypothesis,
theseexplanations havebeendominated bythe
view that exposureto stressfulexperiences
leads to emotionaldistressand thatthedistri-
butionof stressful experiencesin societyac-
countsfordifferential ratesofemotional prob-
lems.Together thesetwoexplanations suggest
that sociallydisadvantagedpersonswill be
bothmorehighlyexposedto stressful experi-
ences and also more highlyinfluencedby
stressfulexperiencesthansociallyadvantaged
persons.
Documentation of theinfluence of differen-
tialexposure,ifit couldbe done,woulddem-
onstrate thatthegreater psychological distress
of disadvantaged personsis due, at least in
part,to greaterexposureto distress-provoking
environmental experiences.In contrast, there
area number ofwaysto interpret a differential

259

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260 JOURNAL OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOR
impactacrosstwosetsofindividuals. One is in disadvantaged social statusesand an indicator
termsof psychicfrailty. That is, because of ofemotional functioning.As shallbe seen,this
theirrelativeinabilityto manage stressful analysissheds lighton why personsin less
situations-their lack of social competence- advantagedsocial statusesare in relatively
some people mightexhibita greatdeal more poor emotionalhealth.
emotionaldistressthanotherswho are more
robust.The sociocultural environment can be METHOD
the directsource of differential impactin a
numberofways.One oftheseis bydetermin-Data
ing the subjective meaningsof objective The data used herecomefromtheMyerset
events. Life situationsare not inherently al. (1972,1974,1975)New Haven survey.The
stressful,
ofcourse.Theymustbe interpreted.sample consistsof 720 personsinterviewed
These interpretations, in turn,are partlyde- bothin 1967and 1969froma largerrandom
pendenton the contextof one's life,the rel- sampleof adultsin the New Haven mental
evancies and circumstancesto which one healthcatchment area.
selectivelyattends.To the extentthatsocial Theinterviews includeda seriesofquestions
status shapes interpretations of life experi- aboutexposureto potentially stressfullifeex-
ences, the subjectivestressfulness, and thus periencesthatmightlead to psychological dis-
theimpact,oftheseexperiences willvarywith tress.I have focusedon fivesummary mea-
status. suresforpurposesof thisanalysis.Threeof
Therearealso a number ofwaysinwhichthe theseare life-event scales,createdfroma list
socialenvironment can modify theimpactsof of56eventsintheinterview. Allofthesescales
stresseventsas theyare subjectively experi- pertainto lifeeventsoccurring duringthetwo
enced.One oftheseis byinfluencing thecop- yearsbetweenthetwodatapointsofthepanel.
ing strategiesused by personssubjectedto The othertwo stressmeasurespertainto on-
stress.Justas objectiveoccurrences are inter- goinglifesituations thatcan be stressful.3The
pretedthrough subjectivefilters, so one's op- firstis a measureoffinancial status,definedas
tionsare determined by subjectiveappraisals a ratioofincometo number offamily members
of availability
and efficacy.One's positionin supportedby this income.The second is a
thesocialstructure also definesone's access to measure of physical illness, definedas a
variousresourcesthatcan be usefulin dealing weightedsumof self-reported symptoms.4
withstress.The stress-buffering effects of so- Therehas been considerabledebatein the
cial supportsystemshave been widelydis- life-events literature about the best way to
cussed (Cobb, 1976; Dean and Lin, 1977; conceptualizeglobal event indexes (B. P.
Kaplanand Cassel, 1977;Mechanic,1974),as Dohrenwend,1974;Dohrenwend et al., 1978;
have themoreobviousadvantagesofpolitical Vinokur andSelzer,1975).To provideas broad
and financialpower. an analysisas possible,resultsare shownhere
Empirically itis verydifficultto disentangle foreach of two separateeventconceptualiza-
thesevariousmodifying influences.However, tions.The first uses rawcountsofundesirable,
a researcher can estimatethe relativeimpor- desirable,and totallifeeventsas thethreein-
tance of differentialimpactin explaining the dexes of exposure.5This unweighted coding
relativefunctioning oftwoormoresetsofindi- schemeis one thathas been used in muchof
vidualswithoutteasingoutall thevariousin- theworkreportedin thelife-events literature.
fluencesthatgo to make up thisdifferentialThe secondemploysweighted countsofdesir-
impact.In theanalysisreported below,thisis able andundesirable eventsanda dummy vari-
exactlywhatis done.A setof stressmeasures able to describethosewho have experienced
are used to predictself-reported emotional no eventsat all overthecourseof thepanel.
distressamong a sample of persons inter- The weightsused hereare thosepresentedin
viewedin a majorepidemiological survey.I Holmesand Masuda(1974)forthelife-change
examinetherelativeimportance ofdifferentialunits (LCU) scale. The weightedcoding
exposureto thesestressesand of differentialschemeis a modification of the Myerset al.
impactof comparablestressesin accounting (1974) Desirability-Change Life Events
for observedrelationships betweenvarious Index.6

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STRESS, SOCIAL STATUS, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS 261

The measureofemotional distressusedhere distressacross these subsamplesin termsof

is Macmillan's(1957)symptom checklistscale theestimation equationsobtainedin the sub-
as modifiedbyGurinet al. (1960).The scale is samples.
madeup of20 statements aboutbodilyfeelings If we takeas our model
thatindicatemoodsofdepressionandanxiety.
Overthecourseofthetwoyears,thescale has P= IV(S) + a, (1)
coefficient
a stability of from .50 (females)to
.56(married) inthesubsamples examinedhere, thenwe can systematically compareaverages
whichcan be takenas a lowerboundon the in thedistressscorebetweentwo subsamples
of thescale.
reliability (g,h)in termsof thefollowing decomposition
Althoughthe symptomsincludedin this (Winsborough and Dickinson,1971).
scale are taken fromthose presentedby
patientsin treatment, it shouldbe recognized Pg Ph = ISh(Vg Vh) + 1Vh(Sg - Sh)
thattheydo nottap a person'sneedfortreat- + I(Vg - Vh)(Sg - Sh)
ment.Nor do theyallowone, in a community + (ag - ah). (2)
sample,to definepsychiatric "cases." How-
ever,thescale does permitrespondents to be If we take as our model
orderedon a continuum of reporteddistress.
Scores on the scale rangefrom20 (all symp- ln [pW/(l-p)] = V(S) + a, (3)
tomsare reported as occurring "often")to 80
(all symptomsare reportedas occurring thenwe can systematically compareodds of
"never"). The sample-wide mean was 72.8. extreme distress(treated as a dummydepen-
Only16%ofthesamplereported extremedis- dentvariable,wherepi is thepredictedprob-
tress,defined, following Myerset al. (1974),as abilitythatpersoni is extremely and
distressed
a scoreof 66 or lower. p = E pi/n)in termsof thefollowing decom-
position(Kessler,1979):
Analysis Strategy ln[pI(l1-P)]g = e - Vh)]
[YSh(Vg
I have recentlypresentedan analysisstrat- ln[gI(l1-P)]h x e [Vh(sg- Sh)]
egy for studying the relativeimportanceof x e [l;(Vg Vh) (Sg - Sh)]
differentialexposureto stressand differential x e [ag - ah] (4)
impactof stress(Kessler,1979).This strategy
is used below to comparemenwithwomen, Thesedecompositions perfectly divideaver-
whiteswithnonwhites, the marriedwiththe agedifferences indistressintocomponents due
unmarried, andpersonsinthelowerclass with uniquelyto each of fourconceptually distinct
personsin themiddleand upperclasses. influences.8 In bothequations(2) and (4), the
The strategyis based on a model of the firstcomponentis a differential exposureef-
causal nexus betweenstressand emotional fect;theexpectedresultofgivingmembers of
functioning thatassumesemotional distress(P) statuscategory g theexposuresfoundto char-
is influencedby exposureto stressors(S) act- acterizemembersof statuscategoryh. The
ingon personswhovaryintheextentto which secondcomponent ineachoftheseequationsis
stressinfluencestheiremotionalfunctioninga differential impacteffect; theexpectedresult
(V). I assumethatthisimpactvariesdepending ofgivingmembers of statuscategory g theim-
on the intrapsychic defensesand social re- pactcoefficients of personsin statuscategory
sourcesusedbytheindividual and h. The thirdcomponentis an empiricalesti-
to interpret
managethestressesto whichhe or she is ex- mateoftheinteraction betweentheimpactand
posed. Thismodelcan be expressedas a pre- exposurecomponents. Thelastcomponent is a
dictionequationfora particular setofstressor residual,representing thedifference indistress
measures,whereV is expressedas a metric betweenpersonsinthetwocontrast categories
regression The comparisonstrat- standardized
coefficient. on theinfluences modeledin the
egyconsistsof,first,estimating modelsofthis prediction equations.
sortin subsamplesand, next,systematically The exposureandimpactcomponents areof
comparing observeddifferences in emotional the most substantive interest, for they tellus

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262 JOURNAL OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOR
therelativeimportance stresses by meansof statistical
of differential controls.Therefore, in
and differential influence ofcomparable stress- each of the decompositions reportedbelow I
es on symptomdifferences across the two sequentially includeand deletetheinitialdis-
statussubsamples.The interaction termrepre- tressscale as a wayofassessingtheinfluence
sents the extentto whichthe symptom dif- of selectionon myresults.
ferencesexplainedbytheprediction equations Decompositionof mean differences in the
cannotbe attributed uniquelyeitherto sub- distressscoresoftwocontrast subsampleslets
sample differencesin exposure or to dif- us glimpsetheforcesthatmake"typical"per-
ferencesin impact.Whentheinteraction com- sons in thesubsamplesdiffer fromeach other
ponentis largerelativeto the exposureand in emotionalfunctioning. Decompositions of
impactcomponents, thenit becomesimprac- differences inthelikelihood ofextreme distress
ticalto place a greatdeal of emphasison the give us a somewhatdifferent view, one of
relativemagnitudes of the lattertwo compo- "extremes"ratherthantypicalpersons.It is
nents. notalwaysthecase thatstressinfluences typi-
In theanalysesbelow,equationsoftheform cal and extremepatternsin thesameway. In
(1), (3) are estimatedseparately fora seriesof severalcases below we findthatthe typical
statuscategorysubsamples.These equations personinsubsampleA is less highly influenced
are thendecomposedby meansof (2), (4) to by a stressthanthetypicalpersonin subsam-
evaluatetherelativeimportance ofdifferentialple B, but thatthis stressleads to a higher
exposureand differential impacton the ob- proportion ofextremedistressin subsampleA
servedvariationsin self-reported distressbe- thanin B. The twopatterns together describe
tweenthecontrasted subsamples. one subsample(A) in whichmostpeople are
unaffected bystressbutinwhichthosewhoare
influenced respondin an extreme fashion,and
RESULTS
anothersubsample(B) in whichmostpeople
A numberof criticsof the life-events ap- areaffected bystressbutinwhichfewofthese
proachto studying psychological distresshave peoplerespondin an extremefashion.
notedthatdistressedpersonsfrequently ex- Tables 1 and2 presentR2coefficients forthe
pose themselvesto stress (Brown, 1974; 36 OLS regression and36 individual-level logit
Dohrenwend et al., 1978;Rabkinand Struen- equationsusedtoestimate (1), (3) respectively,
ing,1976).Therefore itcannotbe automaticallyforthedecompositions to be discussedbelow.
assumedthatrelationships observedbetween Comparison ofthecoefficients inTables 1 and
exposureandemotional disorderareduesolely 2 shows thatthe estimation equationsmore
to thecausal impactof stresson distress.The completely predictthedistressscale thanthe
causal influencemightwork the otherway "extreme"distressdummyvariable.This re-
around.One wayto guardagainstthissortof sultis to be expected,sincethesizableskewin
confounding is to includein one's eventin- theextremedistressdichotomy has theeffect
dexesonlythoseeventsthatare relatively un- of attenuating correlations betweenpredicted
affected by theprioremotionalfunctioning of and observedscores.
the focal respondents(Brown, 1974). How- The firsttwo coefficient columnsin each
ever,thisapproachforcestheanalystto dis- tableare takenfromequationsestimated with
card the life stressesthatdiscriminate most the unweightedpredictors.The thirdand
clearlybetweenpersonsinsociallyadvantaged fourthcoefficientcolumnsare taken from
and disadvantagedstatus categories-such weighted-predictor equations.Comparisonof
eventsas job layoff, arrest,evictionfromone's the coefficients in thesecolumnsshowsthat
home,andmarital dissolution. Fortunately,the theunweighted predictor set has a higherre-
factthatthisanalysisis concernedwithpanel lationshipto the distress scale than the
data makesit possibleto adjustforthe con- weightedset in 35 of the 36 pairsof coeffi-
founding ofcausaldirection inanother way,by cients.I do not wantto enterintothe con-
controlling Time 1 distressin thedecomposi- troversyabout the "best" way to concep-
tions. In this.way I can includeeventsthat tualize life-eventscales here. However, in
might be partially confounded by selectionef- examiningthe resultsof the decompositions
fectsintheindexesandpartialouttheseeffects reportedbelow,one shouldbear in mindthat

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TABLE 1. Coefficients
of MultipleDeterminationin the Subsample OLS Regression

R2
Unweighted Weighted
(N)* Unweighted with G1 Weighted with G,
Men (318) .214 .417 .196 .402
Women (402) .222 .379 .127 .327
Classes I-III (173) .101 .368 .069 .331
Classes IV-V (547) .238 .400 .168 .361
Class V (223) .334 .454 .192 .378
White (627) .185 .386 .136 .355
Not white (90) .387 .473 .238 .349
Married (541) .149 .371 .097 .340
Sep/div (42) .474 .579 .332 .440
Note: All coefficientsare significantat p < .05. Both unweightedand weightedpredictorsets include
incomeper familymemberand the scale ofphysicalhealthcomplaintsas well as the threelife-eventsindexes.
G1 refersto the Time 1 Gurin symptomscale.
*Missing values on the predictorswere assigned mean scores. Complete data are available for the
criterion.

thedistressscoresmeasuredin thisparticular been unableto move beyondthe positionof

sampleare betterpredicted bytheunweighted theirbirth,are sociallyincompetent andhighly
predictor set.9 influenced by stress.Lower class people ap-
pear to be at a disadvantagewithrespectto
Social Class
learnedcoping responses.In theirChicago
study,Pearlinand Schooler(1978)foundthat
The literature on socialclass and mentalill- incomeand educationwere both positively
ness has emphasizedthe importanceof the correlated andto
totheuse ofcopingstrategies
distributionof stressacrossclasses as thekey the possession of intrapsychiccoping re-
determinant of class differencesin emotional sources foundto be effectivein managing
disorder(MarkushandFavero,1974;Myerset stress.Thereis also considerable indirectevi-
al., 1974).However,thereis good theoretical dence (Dohrenwendand Dohrenwend,1970)
reasontobelievethatthereshouldalso be class thatlowerclass peoplehavelow access to so-
differencesintheimpactsof stress.The social cial supports.These,inturn,are nowbelieved
selectionhypothesis, forone,arguesthatlower to be extremely importantresourcesinhelping
class personswho have drifteddown from a personcope withlifeproblems(Liem and
higherstatusfamiliesof origin,or who have Liem, 1978:148-51).

TABLE 2. Coefficients
of MultipleDeterminationin the Subsample Logits

R2
Unweighted Weighted
(N)* Unweighted with G1 Weighted with G,
Men (280) .195 .272 .175 .257
Women (344) .146 .297 .099 .265
Classes I-III (148) .082 .292 .084 .280
Classes IV-V (476) .176 .299 .133 .265
Class V (189) .240 .325 .184 .285
White (541) .120 .241 .083 .214
Not white (81) .298 .450 .329 .435
Married (478) .088 .269 .055 .245
Sep/div (39) .654 .725 .379 .284
Note: All coefficientsare significantat p < .05.
*Listwise deletion of missingvalues was used.

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264 JOURNAL OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOR
Table 3 presentsthe resultsof 16 decom- in thelowerclass subsample.The interaction
positionsin whichdifferential impactand ex- and residualcomponentsare comparatively
posure are compared across social class muchless important, contributinga combined
categories.10The firstpanel (A) compares difference of only .35 points.Withonlyone
peoplein themiddleand upperclasses (I-III) exception,the eightcontrastsof mean dif-
withthose in the lower and lowest classes ferencesshow thatthe differential impactof
(IV-V). The secondpanel(B) comparesthose comparablestressorsis moreimportant than
in classes I-ITTwiththeverylowestclass (V). differential exposureto stress.The exception
Withonlyone exceptionthe resultsin these is theweightedprediction of classes I-ITTvs.
twopanelsare consistent witheach other. classesIV-V inwhichtheTime1distressscale
In termsofmeandifferences in self-reportedwas includedas a predictor. Heretheexposure
distress,the data are quite clear in showing component(-.83) is sizablylargerthanthe
thatthelowerclassesaredisadvantaged intwo impact component(-.39).11
respects:Theyare exposedto morestressful These patternsare consistent withthedata
experiencesthan upper class persons,and reportedby Dohrenwend(1973), who found
comparableeventsimpacton theiremotional thatthepoorinherurbansamplewereexposed
functioning more severelythanon the func- to morestressesthanpersonsin the middle
tioningof upperclass persons.For instance, class and also thatthe relationship between
line6b showsthatthe2.08-point difference in exposureand distresswas higherin thelower
mean symptomsbetweenpersonsin classes thanin themiddleclass. However,myresults
I-III andV is madeup largelyof(1) a 1.00-point are at odds withthefindings of Myerset al.
difference due to thegreaterslopesofdistress (1974) who, analyzingthe New Haven data,
on thestressmeasuresintheregression forthe reported that"therelationship betweensocial
lowerclass subsample,and (2) a .68-point dif- class and psychiatricsymptoms is a reflection
ferencedue to thehighermeanlevelsof stress ofsocialclass differences inthedistribution of

TABLE 3. Decompositionof Class Differencesin Self-ReportedDistress

Predictors Impact Exposure Interaction Residual Total

A. Classes I-III versus Classes IV-V
Decomposition of Observed Mean Differences(I-III-IV-V)
la Unweighted -1.87 -1.44 .47 1.44 -1.37
lb Unweightedwith G1 -1.11 - .90 .09 .52 -1.37
2a Weighted -3.53 .01 -.74 2.89 -1.37
2b Weightedwith G1 - .39 - .83 .24 - .37 -1.37
Decomposition of Predicted Relative Odds* (I-IIIIIV-V)
3a Unweighted .52 -.66 .35 - .38 .84
3b Unweightedwith G1 .72 -.46 .12 -1.05 .52
4a Weighted 1.47 -.68 .62 -1.68 .77
4b Weightedwith G1 .76 -.52 .64 -1.53 .52
B. Classes I-III versus Class V
Decomposition of Observed Mean Differences(I-III-V)
5a Unweighted -2.97 -2.53 1.21 2.21 -2.08
Sb Unweightedwith G1 -2.37 -1.17 .11 1.34 -2.08
6a Weighted -2.54 -1.99 1.91 .59 -2.08
6b Weightedwith G1 -1.00 - .68 -.19 - .16 -2.08
Decomposition of Predicted Relative Odds* (I-IIIIV)
7a Unweighted .55 -1.36 .91 - .55 .63
7b Unweightedwith G1 .65 - .82 .32 -1.24 .32
8a Weighted 1.53 - .81 .73 -2.23 .46
8b Weightedwith G1 1.79 -1.17 1.17 -2.66 .41
*Logit decompositionsare expressed in additiveform.The "Total" column is the ratio of mean relative
odds forthe contrastcategories. For instance,in row 3a, the predictedprobabilitiesof extremedistressfor
personsin classes I-III and IV-V at the means of the independentvariableare .113 and .131 respectively.This
yields a relative odds [.113/(1-.113)]I[.131/(1-.131)] of .84. This total is equal to the product of the
exponentiationsof the fourcomponentsof the decomposition.

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STRESS, SOCIAL STATUS, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS 265

Desirability-Change Life Eventsin the com- mightnothave the same subjectivemeanings

munity"(Myerset al., 1974:199-200).Their forlowerand middleclass people.Anotheris
analysisfailedto considerimpactdifferentials,thatlowerclass people, even thoughexperi-
thusmasking thegreaterimportance ofimpact encingthe same feelingsof helplessnessand
thanof exposurein thedata. hopelessnessas middleclass people, have
The secondsetofdecompositions inTable 3 learnedto adopta moreflexiblestyleofemo-
focuses on extremedistress.With extreme tionality. We do not knowenoughaboutthe
distressdefinedas a scale scoreof66 orlower, sociologyofemotionsto assess thispossibility
13% of thosein classes I-III, 17% of thosein systematically. But it is generalclinicallore
class IV, and 21% of thosein class V report thatpeoplevarybetweenveryrigidand very
extremedistressat Time2 of thepanel (I-III flexiblestylesofemotionality. Flexiblepeople
vs. IV-V: t = 1.3, NS; I-III vs. V: t = 2.07, p < tendto reactquicklyandwithgreatemotionto
.05. The resultshereareunlikethoseformean stress,butseemto recoverquickly,too. Rigid
symptoms in one striking respect.Personsin people,on theotherhand,tendnotto bend,
classes IV and V are less likelythanthosein onlyto break.As a result,whentheydo be-
classes I-III to become extremely distressed come emotionaltheytendto do so uncontrol-
whenexposedto comparablestresses.Despite lably.It is quitepossiblethattheflexibleand
thisadvantage,thepoorreportmoreextreme rigidstylescharacterize lowerand upperclass
distress.The muchgreaterexposureof the personsrespectively; sucha possibility would
poorto stressful experiencescancelsouttheir accountforthe anomalouspatternsof stress
relative advantage in effectivelybufferingimpactobservedin thesedata.12
stressimpacts.
This resultis quiteconsistent, occurring in Race
all eightdecompositions oftheset.The impact
componentsare always positive,indicating Of all thecontrastsexaminedin thispaper,
lowerimpactsamongthelowerclasses. There thereis least supportin the data, and in the
is no systematic magnification or diminution of literatureat large(Dohrenwendand Dohren-
theeffectwhenTime 1 distressis controlled. wend,1969:31;Warheitet al., 1973,1975),for
The effectis more evident,though,when a relationship betweenrace and psychological
classes I-III are comparedonlywithclass V distress.With"nonwhites"definedas thosein
thanwhencomparedwithIV and V together. thesamplewho describethemselves as either
This intriguing patternwill not be pursued "Negro" or "Puerto Rican," no significant
very deeply here. As we shall see below, difference existsin theaveragedistressscores
though,it appearsagainin thecomparison of ofwhitesandnonwhites (73.0vs. 71.8,t = 1.4,
whitesand nonwhites.Whatwe see is that NS).I3 However,nonwhites are twiceas likely
typicallowerclass personsrespondmoreto as whitesto reportextremedistress(28% vs.
stressthando typicalupperclasspersons.This 14%, t = 2.72, p < .05).
is to be expected,giventhe lowerlevels of Table 4 represents the resultsof eightde-
social support,theless effective copingstrat- compositions betweenwhitesandnonwhites in
egies,thesecondarystressesset offforlower thesample.I willhavelittleto sayaboutthese
classpersonswhenseriouslifecrisescomeup, results,for they closely parallel those de-
and themyriadotherwaysin whichthepoor scribedforthesocialclass contrasts inTable 3
are disadvantaged relativeto therichin terms withrespectto the reversalof signsforthe
ofmanaging stress.However,we findpropor- impactcomponentsbetweenthe decomposi-
tionally feweramongthepoorwhorespondto tionof averagesand thedecomposition ofex-
stresswithreallyextremedistressthanamong tremescores.I believethesameconsiderations
thosewho are moreadvantagedeconomically applyhereas in theearlierdiscussionofthose
and socially. results.
One interpretation of thispattern worthy of Thereis one respect,though,in whichthe
futureworkis thatlowerclass personsare resultsforwhitesand nonwhites contrastwith
accustomedto stressful experiencesand,as a the resultsreportedabove for social class;
result,seldom have extremeemotionalre- namely,thatthe greaterdistressamongnon-
sponsesto stress.Thatis, objectivestressors whitesthanamongwhitesis farmorea func-

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266 JOURNAL OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOR
TABLE 4. Decompositionof White-Nonwhite
(Negroand Puerto Rican) Differencesin Self-ReportedDistress

Predictors Impact Exposure Interaction Residual Total

A. Decomposition of Observed Mean Differences(White-Nonwhite)
la Unweighted .15 -2.30 1.07 - .14 -1.22
lb Unweightedwith G1 -.10 -1.56 .67 - .23 -1.22
2a Weighted -.67 -2.11 1.07 .48 -1.22
2b Weightedwith G1 .86 -1.23 .47 -1.35 -1.22
B. Decomposition of Predicted Relative Odds* (White/Nonwhite)
3a Unweighted .71 -1.24 .94 -1.05 .53
3b Unweightedwith G1 .69 -1.19 1.00 -1.07 .57
4a Weighted .42 -1.16 .76 - .68 .51
4b Weightedwith G1 .36 -1.05 .25 - .60 .58
Note: Entrieshave been roundedto two decimal places fromcomputationsbased on fivedecimal places.
As a result,totals may not correspondexactlyto those predictedby addingor multiplying
the components.
*See note to Table 3.

tionofdifferential
exposureto stressthanwas male and femalementalillness(Gove, 1972;
foundto be thecase in thegreaterdistressof Gove and Tudor,1973;Pearlin,1975;Radloff,
lowerclass persons.As we see in panelA of 1975;Weissmanand Klerman,1977).The em-
the table, the average differencein self- phasisin thisliteraturehas beenon theunique
reporteddistressbetweenwhites and non- experiences of women in our society as
whitesis muchmorea function of the manyhousewivesand mothersand on the stresses
stressfulexperiencesto whichnonwhites areassociatedwiththeseexperiences.It has been
exposed than of any impactdifferential be-arguedthat exposureto these stressesac-
tweenwhitesandnonwhites. Indeed,intwoof countsforthepreponderance ofwomenamong
the fourcontraststhe impactcoefficient isthementally ill (Gove and Geerken,1977).
positive,whichmeansthatcomparablestress- Less has been written abouthow menand
es have more impacton whitesthan non- womenmightdifferin theirvulnerability to
whites.PanelB showsthatnonwhites havean stress. However,both biologicalarguments
impactadvantageoverwhiteswhenconsidered aboutfemaleconstitutional frailty
(Weissman
intermsofextreme distress.However,innone and Klerman, 1977) and sociocultural
of the fourdecompositions is thisadvantagearguments aboutlearnedhelplessness (Kaplan,
greatenoughtoovercomethegreater exposure1977) and ineffectivecoping (Pearlin and
of nonwhitesto stress. Schooler,1978)suggestthatstressmayhavea
moresevereimpacton womenthanon men.
Sex
Table 5 presentseightdecompositions of
male-femaledifferences indistress.As inother
Over thelast decade a greatdeal has been data reportedfromsamplesurveys(Dohren-
written
aboutsex rolesand theirmeanings for wend and Dohrenwend, 1976; Gove and

TABLE 5. Decompositionof Sex Differencesin Self-ReportedDistress

Predictors Impact Exposure Interaction Residual Total

A. Decomposition of Observed Mean Differences(Men-Women)
la Unweighted -1.55 -.31 .00 .24 -1.62
lb Unweightedwith G1 - .60 -.31 .13 -.84 -1.62
2a Weighted -3.19 -.19 .24 1.52 -1.62
2b Weightedwith G1 -2.58 -.11 .27 .78 -1.62
B. Decomposition of Predicted Relative Odds* (Men/Women)
3a Unweighted - .92 -.09 -.09 .21 .41
3b Unweightedwith G1 - .39 -.11 -.02 -.29 .44
4a Weighted -1.15 -.14 -.07 .40 .38
4b Weightedwith G1 -1.26 -.05 -.07 .53 .43
Note: Entrieshave been roundedto two decimal places fromcomputationsbased on fivedecimal places.
the components.
As a result,totals may not correspondexactlyto those predictedby addingor multiplying
*See note to Table 3.

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STRESS, SOCIAL STATUS, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS 267

Tudor,1973),thedata in thisstudyshowthat counts,formen,sincetheymustbe assertive

womenare, on the average,moredistressed and sociallycompetentin orderto attracta
thanmen(72.1 vs. 73.7, t = 2.8, p < .05). In spouse. Coupledwiththe assumeddisadvan-
addition,womenare significantly morelikely tagesof theunmarried withrespectto coping
thanmento reportsymptoms of extremedis- resources,this hypothesissuggestsstrongly
tress(19.9%o vs. 11.6%,t = 3.1, p < .05). The thattheimpactofcomparablestressors willbe
decompositions in bothpanelsA and B show greateramongtheunmarried thanamongthe
thatdifferentialimpactis by farthedominant married.
influence on theseobserveddifferences.14 In the New Haven data, significant dif-
Whilethereis nothing in thedata to helpus ferencesin average and extremedistress
know why this impactdifferential exists,a scores exist betweenthe marriedand those
morecompleteanalysisofthesedatapresented who are separatedor divorced(averagesof
elsewhere15suggestsstronglythat the less 73.05 vs. 69.19, t = 2.55, p < .05; extreme
adequate copingstrategiesof women,com- scores of 15% vs. 38%, t = 2.99, p < .05), but
paredto thoseof men,and structural condi- notbetweenthemarriedand eithersinglesor
tionsthatmagnify thesubjectivestressfulnessthe widowed.Therefore, the decompositions
of objectiveproblemsforwomenaccountfor presented inTable 6 contrastthemarried only
thegreater impactofcomparable stressexperi- withthe separated/divorced. In theseresults
ences on womenthanon men. confirmation
we see consistent oftheviewthat
theunmarried are disadvantaged bothinbeing
more exposed to stressand in being more
Marital Status by stressthanthe married.
highlyinfluenced
One of the mostconsistently documented The relativeimportance of thesetwocompo-
findings intheepidemiological literatureis that nentsvariesfromone decomposition to an-
themarried areinbettermentalhealththanthe other,but the resultsare consistentin their
nonmarried (Bachrach,1975). A numberof signsin all eightdecompositions. On balance,
reasonsforthisadvantagehave been hypoth- it wouldseemthatdifferential impactis more
esized. First,the marriedare betterbuffered important than differentialexposurein the
psychologically thantheunmarried byvirtueof comparisonof averagesand thatthetwo are
thestrongemotionalattachments thatdevelop equally important in the comparisonof ex-
betweenthemand theirspousesand children. tremedistress.Thesefindings, thatbothcom-
Next,themarried are less exposedto stressful ponentshave a roleto playin thegreaterdis-
lifesituationsthanthe unmarried because of tressof theunmarried, consistent
are entirely
theirgreaterfinancialpower,politicalpower, with recentresultsof Pearlinand Johnson
and social contacts.Finally,it has been hy- (1977).
pothesized(Martin,1976)thatconstitutionally It is not clear fromthe data why the
fragilepersonsare selectedout of marriage. separated/divorced are morehighly influenced
This is especiallytrue,accordingto some ac- than the marriedby comparablestressors.

Differencesin Self-ReportedDistress
TABLE 6. Decompositionof Married-Separated/Divorced

Predictors Impact Exposure Interaction Residual Total

A. Decomposition of Observed Mean Differences(Married-Separated-Divorced)
la Unweighted -4.47 -3.17 .94 2.83 -3.87
lb Unweightedwith G1 -4.71 -2.33 .89 2.30 -3.87
2a Weighted -7.65 - .27 -1.51 5.58 -3.87
2b Weightedwith G1 -5.52 - .08 -1.02 2.75 -3.87
B. Decomposition of Predicted Relative Odds* (Married/Separated-Divorced)
3a Unweighted -2.56 -1.79 1.24 1.67 .24
3b Unweightedwith G1 -2.56 -3.48 3.18 1.56 .27
4a Weighted -1.09 - .80 .38 -.10 .19
4b Weightedwith G1 -3.33 -1.43 1.19 1.57 .14
Note: Entrieshave been roundedto two decimal places fromcomputationsbased on fivedecimal places.
the components.
As a result,totalsmay not correspondexactly to those predictedby addingor multiplying
*See note to Table 3.

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268 JOURNAL OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOR
Unfortunately, thesampleis too smallto com- ficultto disentanglethe effectsof constitu-
pare the impactcoefficients across pairwise tionalmakeup,social resources,and coping
contrastsofthemarried withtheseparated, the styleson the strength withwhichstressim-
divorced,the widowed,and the single.It is pactson emotionalfunctioning. Anyor all of
possiblethata detailedcomparison ofthissort these influencescould modifythe impactof
wouldbe able to shedfurther lighton thede- stress.However,the existenceof negligible
terminants of the impactdifferential, for,as impactcomponents orimpactcomponents that
Gove (1972) has pointedout, any effectthat show low-status persons to be advantaged
selects constitutionally fragilepeople out of allowus to makecertaininferences aboutthe
marriage willcharacterize singlesandpossibly forcesat workin certaincontrasts.
theseparated/divorced, butnotthewidowed. The mostobviouspointto be madeis that
However,thesortof socialsupportdisadvan- contrastsdominatedby differential exposure
tages thataccompanybeing singleprobably components can usuallybe assumedto be un-
existforthewidowedas wellas forsinglesand influencedby constitutional frailty.In the
the separated/divorced. Therefore, the social simplestsense thisis so because sucheffects
selectionargument wouldpredictthattheim- would appear in substantialimpactcompo-
pactdifferentials foundinTable6 wouldfailto nents.However,a morecomplexsortof rea-
appear in contrastsof the marriedwiththe soning,suggested byDohrenwend (1966),adds
widowed.But the argument thatdifferentialextraweightto thisclaim.Let us takewhites
social resourcesaccountforthe greaterdis- and nonwhites in Table 5. Here differences in
tressof theunmarried wouldpredictthatthe mean symptomscores are foundto be due
verysameimpactcomponent wouldappearin overwhelmingly to the greaterstresses to
the marriedvs. widowed contrastas was whichnonwhitesare exposed. There is no
found here for the marriedvs. separated/ meaningful impactcomponentin two of the
divorcedcontrast. decompositions, and the signsof thecompo-
nentsvaryintheremaining decompositions. It
DISCUSSION
might be, then, that whites and nonwhites
sharethe same sortsof copingstrategies and
The mostgeneralconclusionto be drawn resources,and also sharethe same aggregate
fromtheabove resultsis thatdifferential im- characteristicsin terms of constitutional
pact is an important component in mostcon- strengths andfrailties.However,to theextent
trastsbetweensociallyadvantagedand disad- thatdifferences do existit is almostcertainly
vantagedstatuscategories.Over the last de- the case that nonwhitesare disadvantaged
cade therehasbeena tendency forresearchers socioculturally relativetowhites(Dohrenwend
to focustoo narrowly on the hypothesis that and Dohrenwend,1969:49-56).Therefore, if
"personsin low social statusare dispropor- there are any variations in intrapsychic
tionatelyexposedto stressful lifeevents,and strengths, whitesmustbe disadvantaged rela-
that this exposure can explain the higher tiveto nonwhites. The argument hereis that
symptomlevels of those with low social the insubstantial impactcomponent foundin
status"(Markushand Favero,1974:184).This the white/nonwhite decompositioncan be
differentialexposurehypothesis is centralto plausiblyinterpreted as evidence eitherof
Gove's (1972)sex-roletheoryofmentalillness completelyabsent impacteffects-including
andtotheworkoftheDohrenwends (1969)and any due to constitutionalmakeup-or of
Myerset al. (1974)on socialclass and mental counterbalancing impacteffectsof morethan
illness,to namea fewof themostprominent one sort.In the latterinterpretation the only
examples.The resultsof my decomposition plausibleline of thoughtsuggeststhatnon-
analysisshowthatdifferential exposureis only whiteshave a stronger constitutional makeup
partofthestoryforthecontrasts examinedin thanwhites.
thisstudy.For sex differences, infact,thereis A similarsortofargument might be madefor
no evidencethatdifferential exposureplays therelationship betweensocialclass and psy-
any meaningful role in thegreaterdistressof chologicaldistress.Atleastthiswouldseemto
women. be the case forthe contrastsof extremedis-
As I mentioned above, it is extremely dif- tress,wherethe impactcoefficients all show

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 STRESS, SOCIAL STATUS, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL
lowerclasspersonstobe less highly influenced
by stressthantheirmoresociallyadvantaged
counterparts in themiddleand upperclasses.
However,the impactcomponentsin the de-
compositions of meansymptom scoresare all
positive,whichmeansthatimpactis higherin
the lowerclass. Much moreanalysisof this
discrepancy betweenthetwotypesof impact
components willbe necessarybeforeanything
can be said abouttheimportance ofconstitu-
tionaldifferences in the relationship between
socialclass and distress.
For the remaining two contrasts,between
menand womenand betweenthemarried and
the separated/divorced, importantimpact
components appearin theresults.Indeed,for
bothcontrastsit wouldseemthatdifferential of
impactis moreimportant thandifferentialex-
posure.Here we cometo thegreyarea in our
understanding of sociodemographic variations
in emotionaldistress.We knowthatwomen
2. There are several different versions of the "so-
and the unmarried sufferbecause of relative
inabilitiesto buffer themselves fromtheemo-
tionaldistressaccompanying lifestresses.But
why?
Without directmeasuresof someofthefac-
torsthatmight plausiblylead to thedifferential psychological disability and distress in these
influence of stress,it is extremely difficult
to
answerthis question.Althoughthereare a
number of theories about the genetic,
neurochemical,and neurobiologicalfactors
thatmightgo intoconstitutional differences, that they come to experience as members of
thereis no obvious way to index such dif-
ferences insurveydata.However,itis possible
to measure coping styles (Pearlin and
Schooler,1978),social support(Cobb, 1976),
and manyothersociocultural factorsthatcan
buffer theimpactofstressondistress.Byusing
measuresofthissortto interpret impactcom-
ponents,we mightbe able to tease out the
contributions ofthevariousplausibledetermi-
nantsof differential impactdescribedabove.
I havenotbeenable to do thisinthepresent
paper.However,I feelthatfutureworkmust
movein thisdirection ifwe are to disentangle
thethorny problemsof causationthathave so
long baffled those of us who study the
sociodemographic correlates ofmentalillness.
3. At the
NOTES
1. Some emotionalproblemsare less characteristic
of socially disadvantaged than of advantaged
persons. For instance, women are less likelyto
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DISTRESS 269
be alcoholics thanmen (Weissmanand Klerman,
1977), and the poor are less likely to be
obsessive-compulsivethan the richor upwardly
mobile (Langner and Michael, 1963). There is
some clinical speculation, in fact, that certain
clustersof problemsare functionallyequivalent,
but are structurallymore likelyto appear in cer-
tainpersons thanin others.Hysteriain women is
thoughtto be an equivalent of sociopathy in
men; depressionin womento be an equivalentof
alcoholismin men. Were it possible to formalize
and substantiatethese equivalences it mightwell
be that we would conclude, not, as now, that
disadvantagedpersons are more distressed,but
only that they are distressed differentlythan
their more advantaged counterparts. At the
presenttime,though,it is not clear how to make
these equivalences formally.The best strategy
would seem to be to conduct separate analyses
multiple domains of distress, coupled with
systematicassessments of the extent to which
causal processes found to triggerone type of
problem in one particularcategory of people
parallelthe triggering of othertypesof problems
in other categories of people.
cial selection" argument.One of these suggests
that early psychological disabilitydifferentially
predisposes an individualto fail in economic af-
fairsand in the marriagemarket.To the extent
that the disability is permanent, then, such
people will tend to inflateaggregatemeasures of
statuscategories. However, since thisargument
makes no referenceto impairedcoping abilities,
it is notobvious thatthe people who "drift" into
these disadvantagedsocial statuses will be more
highlyinfluencedthan other people by stresses
these status categories.
A broader selection argument,on the other
hand, suggests that predispositionstoward dis-
tress internalto the individual, determined,in
part, by the early childhood environment,and,
in part, by genetic, neurochemical, and
neurobiological factors unrelated to the adult
environment,are morecommonamongthe poor
thanthe well-to-do,the unmarriedthanthe mar-
ried, women than men, and nonwhites than
whites. For the poor and forthe unmarriedsuch
disadvantagesin social competence mustbe due
to some sort of social selection process-since
these are bothacquired statuses. For womenand
nonwhites, though, arguments about compe-
tence usuallyare based eitheron factorsintrinsic
to body chemistry(for women) or on interac-
tions between prenatal environmentalassault
and genetic predispositions(for nonwhites).
same time, these life situations can
provideresourcesfordealingwithothertypesof
stress. For instance, the lack of financial re-
sources has been hypothesizedto be a central
determinantof the coping disadvantages of
blacks and persons in the lower class (Dohren-
270 JOURNAL OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOR
wend and Dohrenwend, 1970). Similarly,physi-
cal health can be a resource on which one can
draw in coping with certainevents that require
physical intervention.It is generallythe case, in
fact, that ongoing life situations or char-
acteristicsthatcan be thoughtof as stressescan,
when considered fromanother perspective, be
considered resources. It is possible, then, that
complex interactions exist in the prediction 7. Since the stress measures correlatesignificantly
equations consideredin thispaper. For instance,
physical health problems might influence the
emotionalfunctioningof a person who lacks fi-
nancial resources more severely than one who
possesses financial resources. Interactions of
this type, though,will not be examined in the
analyses that follow.
4. Since the scale of emotionaldistressused in this
analysis consists largelyof psychophysiological
symptoms,great care was taken in constructing 8. The decompositionin (2) perfectlydecomposes
the physical illness index. The interview
schedule contained a list of some 44 physical
health complaints. Some of these were clearly
psychosomatic.To create the scale of physical
illness, I selected a subset of 16 complaintsfor
which a psychosomaticcomponentis probably
of only minorimportance.I arbitrarily gave dou-
ble or triple weights to some of those that I
considered on commonsensical grounds to be
the most serious.
5. Of the 56 eventsin theinterviewschedule, 28 are
definedas undesirable,14 as desirable,and 14 as
ambiguous. The ambiguous-eventssubscale has
been omittedhere in order to avoid collinearity
between the total-events scale and the
undesirable-and desirable-eventssubscales. The
overall results of the decomposition are unaf-
fected by the decision to exclude the
ambiguous-eventsscale ratherthan one of the
others. However, this decision would become
more important if one were interested in
evaluatingthe significanceof specificslope dif- 10. The theory necessary to develop significance
ferences(see Note 10), in whichcase it would be
preferableto include all the component scales
and exclude the scale of total events.
6. The Myers Desirability-ChangeIndex is drawn
up in two steps. First, weighteddesirable-and
undesirable-eventindexes are created that are
identicalto those I use in thisanalysis. Next, the
two indexes are combined, the desirable-event
index being given a positive score and the
undesirable-eventindex a negative score. Re-
spondents who report no events are given a
score higher than the highest empirical score
obtained among those who reportat least one
event.
The use of threeindexes in the procedurefol-
lowed in this paper allows the weightingof the
desirable and undesirable indexes (implicitly
given equal weightin the Myers procedure) as
well as theirsigns (constrainedto be +, - forthe
desirable and undesirableindexes in the Myers
procedure) to be estimatedempirically.In addi-
tion,the use of a dummyvariable forthose who
reportno events allows empiricalestimationof
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theirposition on the index ratherthan the con-
strainedassignmentof themto thehighestscore.
Given the factthatmy threeindexes relax three
assumptions of the Myers index, it is not sur-
prisingto find,as I did in preliminarycompari-
sons, thatmy threeindexes always have higher
R2values in subsample regressionsthandoes the
Myers Desirability-ChangeIndex.
withthe Time 2 scale, controllingforthe Time 1
score, we know thatsome real change has taken
place in symptomsover time.On the basis of the
regressionresults,thischange componentcan be
estimated to be a minimumof 2%o of the ob-
served Time 2 symptomscale variance. On the
basis of thisinformation,we can adjust the esti-
mate of the scale's reliability upward to a
minimumof .6.
observed mean differencesin distress. The de-
composition in (4) perfectlydecomposes the
ratio of the meanpredicted log odds of extreme
distress. Although the mean of the predicted
probabilitiesdoes equal theobserved probability
of extreme distress in the sample, the mean of
the predictedlog odds does not equal the log of
the observed mean odds. Consequently, the
"Total" columns in Tables 3-6 vary for pre-
dicted relative odds, even thoughthey do not
vary for observed mean differences.
9. One possible reason forthisis thattheeventlists
are shorterin the weighted scales than in the
unweightedscales. FollowingMyers,only those
events that were included in the Holmes and
Rahe (1967) events list were made part of the
weightedevent scales. In the unweightedscales,
28 undesirable, 14 desirable,and 56 total events
were included. In the weightedscales, only 16
undesirable and 10 desirable events were in-
cluded.
testsfordecompositioncomponentshas only re-
centlybeen workedout by Michael Sobel at the
Universityof Wisconsin. No machine-readable
procedures for making the tests yet exist.
Therefore,no significancetestsare presentedfor
thedecompositionsin Tables 3-6. However, itis
possible to evaluate the significanceof mean
differencesacross contrast subsamples with t-
tests and to evaluate the significanceof slope
differenceseitherwith t-testsor pooled regres-
sion models containing interactionterms. An
example of this sortof analysisis givenin Kess-
ler (1979:Note 4). However, since the purpose
hereis to describe the majorpatternsin the data,
ratherthan to make inferencesto some broader
populations, this type of significance-testing
procedure has not been employed.
11. One reviewer suggestedthat this exception de-
serves attentionbecause it occurs in one of the
most realisticspecifications.However, it should
be rememberedthatthe weightedscales contain
fewer items than the unweighted scales (see
Note 9), making inconsistentresults based on
STRESS, SOCIAL STATUS, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL
models usingthese scales somewhatless persua-
sive than they otherwisemightbe. In addition,
substantiveinterpretation of the resultin row 2b
would imply that the same reversal should be
found in row 6b. That this reversal does not
appear calls a substantiveinterpretation further
into question.
12. It is importantto distinguishthis clinical notion
of emotional flexibilityfromKohn's (1969) no-
tion of intellectualflexibility.A reviewerof an
earlierdraftcommentedthatthereseemed to be
a contradictionbetween my speculation that
lower class persons mightbe emotionallyflexi-
ble and Kohn's findingthatlower class persons
are intellectuallyinflexible.No such contradic-
tion exists, though.Kohn's findingrefersto the
idea thatpersons in the lower class "experience
conditionsof life that fosterconceptions of so-
cial realityso limitedand so rigidas to impair
theirabilityto deal resourcefullywiththe prob-
lematic and stressful" (Kohn, 1977:xliv). The
clinical notion of emotional flexibility,on the
otherhand, refersto the idea thatpeople can be
quick or slow to hold back emotional reactions
fromthemselvesand others. It is perfectlycon-
ceivable thatlower class persons could be both
intellectuallyinflexibleand emotionallyflexible.
13. The extremely small numbers of respondents
who were assigned codes as "Japanese,"
"Chinese," "Other," or "Unknown" were ex-
cluded fromthis contrast. Only 90 respondents
were assigned codes as either "Negro" or
"Puerto Rican." These were combined, since
neitherof these two response categories con-
tainedsufficient respondentsto warrantseparate
analysis. It should be noted, though, that the
Dohrenwends (1969) have reportedcertain dif-
ferences between blacks and Puerto Ricans on
scales like the Gurinscale, some of whichmight
reflectdifferencesin response styles.The results
obtained for the combined subsample in this
paper, then,should be interpretedwithcaution.
14. The stresses that have been discussed in the
sex-role literatureas key determinantsof dis-
tress among women are thoughtto be sex-role
stresses, ones that are relatively unique to
women. The impactof these stressesis captured
in the residualcomponentsin Table 5. As we see
there,though,women have positive residuals in
six of the eightdecompositions,which suggests
that they are less distressed than men net the
influencesmodeled explicitlyin the prediction
equations. Were unique sex-role stresses actu-
ally at work, we would expect to have found
negativeresiduals.
15. Data available fromthe author on request.
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