Abstract

ACUNA, Laura. Effects of Different Psychological Variables on Health: Results from Studies Done in Mexico. Acta de investigación psicol [online]. 2012, vol.2, n.3, pp.825-841. ISSN 2007-4719.

It has been shown that with both animals and humans stress can damage health. It has also been shown that some psychological variables modulate the relation between stress and health. The present paper summarizes the results from various studies done in Mexico regarding the effect of several psychological variables on people's health. The paper presents results from studies in which the social readjustment rating for adults and for elementary school children were validated in Mexico. Data regarding the validation in Mexico of the social support questionnaire are also presented. The results from a study that used the reports of school peers about their willingness to interact with an individual showed that social support can be measured as an authentic independent variable. The paper also reviews the results from studies that showed that as predicted by social impact theory, the first perceived helpers are responsible for the beneficial effects of social support while the effect of each additional helper is only marginal. The paper summarizes the results from studies that showed that as in other countries stress predicted reliably the frequency with which children and adults experienced somatic symptoms and that perceived social support mitigated the noxious effects of stress. Different from other countries, in Mexico femininity and not masculinity mitigated the noxious effects of stress on health while coping strategies did not modulate the effects of stress.

Keywords : Social readjustment rating scale; Social support questionnaire; Sociometry; Social impact theory; Masculinity-femininity; Coping strategies; Humans.