Stress among Women in Poverty - Research Paper Example

? Problem Drinking, Social Support and Stress among Women in Poverty Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 GenderedPoverty 4 Stress 5 Problem Drinking and Stress 7 Social Support 9 Implications for Policy and Research 12 Conclusion 12 References 14 Abstract This review examines the problems that females living in poverty experience, in relation to increased stress and attempts to reduce the effects of stress. Many women living in poverty experience high levels of stress and as a result a significant proportion is affected by depression. Both of these factors can decrease the ability of a woman to break free from poverty, create low mood, and as a consequence can result in a feeling of weariness and burning out. This can lead many women to problem drinking. One approach that has been suggested for working with women in this situation is the provision of social support, which is thought to reduce susceptibility to problem drinking. Research indicates that in female of low income, prejudice makes this an ineffective tool and results in the females feeling judged without gaining any support. Consequently, the social support tool needs to be remodeled for women in low income environments so that it can act as an effective method of helping women and reducing the prevalence of problem drinking. Introduction Poverty is a prevalent issue even within developed countries, and people living in poverty experience many health problems. The most evident of these is malnutrition due to a lack of food; however, there are also many behavioral and social issues that also arise. In the United States, rates of poverty have increased as a result of the global financial crisis, which has led to a decrease in job availability (Jacobsen & Mather, 2011). Females are strongly affected by poverty, and families that are headed by women have a much higher likelihood of being impoverished than similar male headed households (Wright, 2011, pp. 49-59). One problem that is prevalent in women that live in poverty is an increased level of stress. This stress can become overwhelming for many women in this situation, resulting in a significant proportion turning to drinking alcohol as a method to alleviate stress. However, alcohol is not an effective method to relieve stress, and can quickly turn into alcohol abuse, which can in turn increase the amount of stress that the woman is under. Gendered Poverty For a person to be considered as living in poverty, they must lack the money to reliability afford to meet their needs. For example, a family may have the finances to feed themselves most of the time, but there may be a few days of the month where they cannot eat sufficiently due to lack of income. Many western definitions of poverty are broader than this technical definition, and consider poverty as where a person has a low standard of living, even though they may be able to afford food and accommodation (U.S. Census Bureau, 2011). Therefore, a family may be living in poverty if they are able to pay rent and buy food, but their income is below a certain level, and they have difficulty buying new clothing. Research shows that the prevalence of poverty is strongly related to gender, and that females are more likely to be impoverished than males (Wright, 2011, pp. 49-59). This trend is especially true when households with children are examined. An examination of food security, which can be used a proxy for poverty, showed that in the United States 23.7% of households that were headed by solely by a female experienced low food security, while 19.5% of households headed only by males identified themselves as having low food security. Food security is a measure of how much confidence a person has that they will have access to enough food to remain healthy (Nord et al., 2010). On average, there is a substantial gap between the wages that females and males earn. For a female that does not have a partner, this means either working longer hours to money, or living on a lower wage (Gneezy, Leonard, & List, 2009). This can be highly stressful and male result in an increased amount of stress in females who live in poverty than males. Stress Stress arises from a wide range of different factors, and people’s susceptibility varies greatly. Poverty is associated with several sources of stress that are not prevalent elsewhere. For example, people with low income often face high levels of food insecurity, particularly if income is sporadic. People with low income tend to be subject to a significantly higher number of stressors than those in mid- or high-income brackets (Dawson, Grant, & Ruan, 2005). Stress is a highly important factor in public health, as it has been suggested as a causal factor in illness and has been shown to have a significant influence on the way that people behave (DeLongis, Folkman, & Lazarus, 1988). Consequently, people who live in poverty may be subject to highly stressful environments and lack an adequate means of releasing this stress or reducing it. For example, people with significant incomes are able to reduce stress from work by taking a vacation or decreasing their hours. This option is not available for people who have low incomes, as they often cannot afford to take time off, and may risk losing their job if their performance decreases. Stress is therefore not a static influence that is present equally across all people and all environments. Rather, stress varies substantially from one individual to another and across different demographic factors. Another area where there is potential for significant differences in the level of stress is between males and females. While there are many similarities between men women there are also significant, and important, differences. Women are often more family minded, and are more likely to take on the role of caring for a family than a male (Nord, et al., 2010). The genders also differ in the types of decisions that they make. Males tend to take risks more often and to be more interested in competition, while females are on average more reserved. The social power of males and females also differs, and women often feel powerless as a consequence (Croson & Gneezy, 2009). These factors show that females have the ability to experience, and to respond to stress in different ways than males do, even when the same stressors are present. One link between poverty, gender and stress is the differing roles that females occupy compared to males. Many women who live in poverty are faced with the stress not only of taking care of themselves but of caring for a family. Difficult economic times mean that many women need to work full time, care for children and to a large proportion, if not all, of the domestic work in the household. This is true even in families where there is both a male and a female wage earner. This high level of work can lead to women ‘burning out’, where they experience physical or mental problems due to the exhaustion associated with work (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2001). An important aspect of this is depression. Depression is a prevalent problem worldwide, and is particularly relevant for women who live in poverty. People who experience depression have low mood, may experience suicidal behaviors or thoughts and find it difficult to be motivated and to act on many things. Between the age of 18 and 60, poverty has been shown to significantly increase the likelihood that someone will become depressed (Pratt & Brody, 2008). Furthermore, women are approximately two times as likely as males to be depressed (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2001). Depression is also highly relevant for poverty, as this mental condition is frequently debilitating, limiting the ability of those with depression to work effectively, or to work at all (Pratt & Brody, 2008). Consequently, depression can act to increase the problems that are already associated with poverty and therefore result in a higher level of stress. This evidence strongly indicates that it is important for women in poverty to find an effective method of managing stress, as not managing it can result in compounding stress, and increased difficulties in ever leaving an impoverished lifestyle. Problem Drinking and Stress Unfortunately, for many women, one way of managing this stress is to turn to alcohol. Research has shown that there are many social stressors that are specific to women with low-income, that significantly contribute to the abuse of alcohol (Mulia et al., 2008). In people with low income, job-related stress and social stress have both been shown to significantly increase the average amount that people drink, resulting in many becoming heavy drinkers. These effects were observed in both males and females, suggesting that both genders are susceptible to stress and may turn to drinking as a means of release (Dawson, et al., 2005). Likewise, poverty itself has been showing to significantly increase both alcohol use and alcohol-associated problems. Long periods of unemployment have also been shown to lead to higher alcohol consumption (Khan, Murray, & Barnes, 2002), which is consistent with many women who live in poverty and rely mostly on government assistance to survive. Alcohol is often used as a method of reducing stress, as it has become readily available and is inexpensive (Gupta & Warner, 2008). However, while this may mitigate some stress factors in the short term, the long term effects of alcohol use are significant and tend to be highly detrimental. Generally, the amount of alcohol that a person consumes is measured by the amount of pure alcohol that is present. In the United States, a standard drink is a commonly used unit of measurement, and refers to an alcoholic beverage that contains 14 grams alcohol. Two types of alcohol abuse are common. Heavy drinkers drink an average of at least two standard drinks each day, although women are classified as heavy drinkers if they consume one or more drinks, due to the different ways that the genders process alcohol. In contrast, binge drinking involves consuming alcohol less often, but with more drinks in a session. For example, a binge drinking session tends to contain at least five standard drinks, but this may occur only once or twice a week (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011). What is considered problem drinking varies depending on the individual study, but most often includes both binge drinking and heavy drinking. The use of alcohol as a means of reducing stress is concerning, as there are many detrimental effects to alcohol use, and especially alcohol abuse. Worldwide, 1.8 million deaths are attributed to alcohol use each year (World Health Organization, 2007). Furthermore, alcohol consumption results in many injuries and the number of people continues to grow as the acceptability of alcohol use increases (Institute of Alcohol Studies, 2009). Alcohol is therefore a frequently used method of relieving stress, particularly in those who live in poverty. However, it is an ineffective technique, which can result potentially result in injury or death. Also has a number of physical effects on the body, affecting the ability of the person to reason, reducing their concentration, and slowing many physical responses (The Drinkaware Trust, 2011). Furthermore, alcohol use can often lead to alcohol addiction, with people requiring increasing amounts of alcohol in order to experience the same effect. This can be highly dangerous and results in people being unable to function without alcohol in their system. Alcohol consumption has been shown to decrease a woman’s ability to compete for resources, and can increase the likelihood of becoming homeless (Robertson, 1991). For women in poverty, drinking is unlikely to solve any of the problems that are causing stress, and may instead increase many problems that they experience. For example, drinking to reduce stress could result in poor work performance and eventually the individual losing their job. This would result in higher levels of stress, as the loss of a job decreases the amount of income to the family, and therefore other stressful factors, such as food insecurity. Consequently, it is important to find ways to mitigate stress for women in poverty. Social Support Social support is often recommended as an effective way of helping people to cope with problems. Social support is measured differently depending on the study, but it is generally defined as the knowledge a person has that there is assistance available for them and they are cared for. There are many types of support associated with social support, including receiving advice, financial assistance, emotional support and companionship. Social support has been shown to have significant effects on depression and anxiety. The symptoms of depression have been observed to be stronger in people who do not have strong social support (Mulia, et al., 2008). This is particularly true in women, who are more likely to develop depression than males (Pratt & Brody, 2008). Most studies of social support focus on the effect that this has on middle-class populations, however, both poverty and gender are also likely to have a significant effect on the role that social support plays on reducing stress and consequently decreasing the prevalence of problems such as problem drinking in poor families (Mulia, et al., 2008). Social support is particularly relevant in the low income environment, as not only do women who live this way have an increased need for social support, they also have decreased access to it. Many women living in poverty are socially discriminated against, and their status results in them being treated with distain. This can make it difficult for women in poverty to seek social support, and many may feel ostracized during the process (Belle Doucet, 2003). Furthermore, the discrimination against poverty means that women in this position are often unable to find a network of social support. Human behavior is strongly driven by needs. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theorizes that people have six levels of needs, and the way that people behave is the result of an attempt to fulfill those needs. He argues that it is only once an individual fulfills the needs of one step in the hierarchy that he moves to the next, and once he completes these, the next, and so on. The first level of needs that Maslow identifies is the needs essential for survival. These consist of shelter, food, water and warmth. Families in poverty meet all or most of these needs, depending on their individual circumstances. For example, many people live in extreme poverty to the extent that they are homeless; consequently, these people do not have any reliable shelter. The second level of needs predicted by Maslow’s theory is the needs of security, which focus on the person having a stable and predictable life. An example of this is always having the money for rent before it is due, and not being uncertain about whether food will be affordable each week. The third level of needs that Maslow addresses is the need for belonging (Koltko-Rivera, 2006). This need essentially expresses that humans have a strong need for the support of other people, and to feel accepted and to sense that their welfare is cared about. This suggests that people engage in behaviors that are potentially self-destructive because they are unable to fulfill this need. In the case of problem drinking, women living in poverty may turn to drinking because they feel that this makes it easier to connect with other people, or because this stops them from thinking about the fact that they do not have social support. Social support is often recommended as a method of buffering the effects of stress, decreasing the likelihood that a person will turn to problem drinking or experience psychological distress because of chronic stress. It is thought that if a person is feeling stressed and is part of a social network they have people that they can turn to for assistance and comfort. However, research indicates that for poor women this is often not the case, and a network of social support often does not act a significant buffer, and problem drinking is as probable for females in this situation that have social support and those that do not (Mulia, et al., 2008). It is likely that this occurs because there is a strong stigma associated with being poor, and consequently, many people in social networks with poorer individuals either appear to blame them for their situation or do. This can make relationships uncomfortable and consequently it becomes difficult for poor females to turn to a social support network for help. This implies that while social support may still remain an important need for females in poverty, current mechanisms or types of social support are inadequate. Implications for Policy and Research The results of this review suggest that while social support networks have the potential to help alleviate stress for women living in poverty, and reduce their need or desire to drink; this is currently an ineffective technique. Research needs to focus on what factors make social support effective for other classes, and how this can be adapted to address the needs of people who are impoverished. Over time, research should attempt to build a more effective model for interventions into the lives of women in poverty, reducing their exposure to stressors, or finding a means to give them more ability to manage these stressors. It is important that the poverty is recognized as a distinct class, and that it is subject to many different influences and stressors than other classes and parts of society. Conclusion The high levels of stress that is associated with poverty can make it a difficult environment for many women to survive, and many turn to drinking as a method of alleviating the stress. However, problem drinking produces many negative effects, and does not reduce stress in the long term, often resulting in families falling deeper into poverty. Health behavior models indicate that social support can provide a strong method of reducing stress. While this is highly recommended as a method of helping people avoid alcohol abuse, results have shown that this is not highly effective in low income families. People living in poverty often experience high levels of prejudice and this can make it difficult for them to form social relationships and consequently makes the use of social support networks ineffective. 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