Significant Life Events and Coping

This document explores the impact of significant life events on individuals and their social networks. It discusses the Social Network Theory and how relationships within networks can affect individuals. It also provides coping strategies for dealing with difficult situations. The document is relevant for anyone studying psychology or sociology.

SIGNIFICANT LIFE
EVENTS AND
COPING

Table of Contents
QUESTION 1...................................................................................................................................1
Social Network Theory...........................................................................................................1
QUESTION 2...................................................................................................................................4
Gaining Expert Support..........................................................................................................4
Exercise..................................................................................................................................4
Venting...................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

QUESTION 1
According to the case study, Maria is an individual who has a husband, John and two
sons. However, the woman has recently been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer which might
not be responses to any treatment given to the individual. Furthermore, her consultant advised
her to be referred to palliative care team, which means that there is an absolute certainty that her
life would end quite sooner than expected.
When such a case happens where an individual experience untimely death, there are
various individuals who might be related or even don’t, get affected. Furthermore, it is highly
necessary to appropriately and effectively analyse the impact of this diagnosis upon the
individual, her husband, as well as her wider social network (Otto, and et. al., 2015). The reason
for the same is to evaluate and assess the likelihood of changes in human behaviour and extent of
care which individuals within wider social networks have for a person such as Maria. However,
it is also an absolute certainty that a theoretical framework is used to analyse the impact which
would be allowing to assess the intensity and likelihood of this phenomena based on the
principles that have been tried, tested and proven in the past.
Social Network Theory
This theory is an active study which is based on how individuals, as well as groups interact
with one another within a formal or informal network. This is a very crucial and effective
framework as it allows individuals to understand the relationships and individuals and impact
which these relationships have on one another (Mousa Thabet and Vostanis, 2017).
To achieve this however, the theory is formulated by dividing the relationships into
elements, where the largest elements are networks and smallest ones are the actors.
Examination of Nodes:
One of the most appropriate ways through which relationships amongst individuals could
be understood are in relation is to think of networks as part of neighbourhoods in which the
individual resides. Moreover, the actors, or the individuals are the nodes of this network and are
interconnected in variety of ways.
Types of Social Network
Social networks could be of different types, depending on the person and the kind of
lifestyle they choose to live. Moreover, in context of Maria, these social networks are important
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to be analysed to further determine the extent of likelihood of the wider social networks of being
affected by the news of her diagnoses. Therefore, some of these networks are elaborated below: Ego-Centric Networks:
These are the networks or relationships which are directly connected to single individual. In
case of Maria, this undertakes all her immediate family members, friends and business or
neighbourhood associates. There is a personal connection of Maria with all the individuals who
would fall under this category. Moreover, at some point of time, they are all interconnected
through Maria and each of them is likely to have a close associated with this individual.
 Socio-Centric Networks:
These are the networks that by default are quite close, such as within a school, university or
organisation. Considering that Maria was a working woman then this network would be created
within the workplaces she has been a part of and the circle who was directly or indirectly been
associated with her during the course of her tenure (Evans and et. al., 2015).
 Open System Networks:
These are the networks whose boundary is not effectively defined, which mean that it
undertakes a very wide demographic element within its range and hence, it is very difficult to
establish a clear networking within the same. An example of the same is the social class in which
Maria would be belonging into.
Studying the Impact
Based on the above analysis, it becomes necessary that the overall impact of the
diagnosis is analysed within the social network of Maria and determine the extent up to which
individuals would be affected by her condition. However, for this purpose, it is first necessary to
study the relationships in detail.
Within this theory, relationships are also referred to as ties, which are the main element
which is to be understood within the case study. This analysis is based on why individuals within
a certain network interact, what are the means with which they associate themselves with one
another, as well as what is the extent of their closeness?
However, all these relationships have different types which are to be taken into account.
For example, the very first type in regards to this is reciprocal, where individuals share mutual
respect and feelings for one another. In context of Maria, this type of relationship is shared by
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this individual with her husband, as well as two kids. Moreover, if Maria or John would be
having extended families, then they would be included in this category as well. Another category
within relationships is directional. These are the ones which are one sided and have a formal
orientation amongst one another. Due to their nature, they are not reciprocal and an individual
merely exist within such a network on professional terms. These refer to the working
environment in which Maria was currently belonging (Lyons, Huebner and Hills, 2016).
These relationships could further be segregated to strong and weak ties, where as strong
are the ones which have direct and major impact of a person’s life events, a weak tie does not get
much affected by whatever is happening to the individual.
Therefore, in context of Maria, her strong ties would be the ego-centric relationships of
the individual. They are the ones which are most affected to any significant life even which a
person faces. The weaker the tie, the weaker there would be the impact. In relation to the case
study, the individuals related to Maria, such as John, her 2 sons, her immediate and close family
and friends, as well as neighbours would be quite devastated learning that Maria is so close to
death. Moreover, while there would be major concerns for the current state and future treatments
and care provided to Maria, other concerns of these individuals other than John and her kids
would be divided on how the whole family would be coping up knowing that there is almost no
scope of any miracle to happen which could save Maria’s life. In context of John, he would
suffer the most, considering the fact that Maria was his closes associate and life companion.
Moreover, responsibility of two young kids is also very hectic for a single parent which would
make his sufferings even worse. In relation to her two sons however, the impact would be most
on the elder son rather than the younger one, considering both the sons around the age of 5, the
concept of life and death might not be completely clear to them, which might lead them to a state
of confusion until they fully realise that their mother is almost at the verge of losing her life and
would be battling such a cruel disease before losing (Li and et. al., 2016).
However, as the relationship or ties become weaker, it would have reduced impact due to
lesser association with Maria and weaker psychological connection with the person. Within this
case too there might be several links which have been close to Maria in previous years, such as
ones who have been with her in college, her friends, past neighbours and so forth, a mild remorse
and feeling of contemplation would be shared by them as well, the impact however, would
generally be low.
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Therefore, the social network theory clearly explains the reasons of how the diagnosis
would be impacting Maria’s close associates, as well as her wider social networks by explaining
the context of relationships through referring them as networks and connecting the same through
a single nod, which in this case, was Maria.
QUESTION 2
As explored above, one of the persons which would be having the most negative impact of
Maria’s diagnosis would be John, as there would be very limited alternatives which would be left
with him to ensure that Maria’s condition could be improved. Moreover, the advice from
consultant would also be leading John towards losing hope due to his affection towards Maria.
However, it is very necessary for him to cope up with the diagnosis to actively play his part
towards taking care of Maria, as well as of her kids (Lewis and et. al., 2015). Moreover, in
difficult times like these, it is imperative to regain balance and take some very important decision
which first requires an individual to cope effectively. Hence, in regards to this, there are various
strategies which are linked with better coping and must be used by John to handle the situation
well. These strategies are explored and elaborated below:
Gaining Expert Support
One of the core strategies which is essential and accessible in times like these for John is to
gain support and ask for help from various experts available in the care organisation. Usually
healthcare facilities have a number of counsellors and expert psychologists, who use a range of
techniques to ensure that a person develops better and more effective energy to deal with the
energy and copes with the same in an effective manner. For instance, a counsellor could listen
that what John has to express in context of the current situation of Maria. Then, they could use
professionally accepted techniques such as counselling, therapy, medications and other forms of
treatment to help John in dealing with the situation in a more appropriate manner. In addition to
this, if John approaches the personal consultant of Maria, then that professional might be able to
better explain the overall condition which is happening to Maria and then they could collectively
discuss the best way out of the overall situation (Undheim, and Sund, 2017).
Exercise
Another effective technique which must be focused upon by John is regular exercising. It
would be even better if John has a habit of working out and staying healthy as lifestyle is very
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important determinant of how a person is coping with a situation. The reason why exercising has
been stated as a coping strategy for John is because excessive workout and timely eating and
sleeping routine generates several hormonal fluids within the body which provide relaxation to
the physical, as well as mental state of an individual. Moreover, exercising would also allow
John to develop a focus which would further be viable for him to deal with this situation. In
addition to this, exercising would help John staying active and take correct decisions which are
associated with the health of Maria in a very effective and essential manner. Physical and mental
health is mostly interrelated when it comes to coping with stress or grief. Moreover, exercising
would contribute towards developing coordination within both of these elements of health that
would help John towards coping up with the significant life event of Maria in an effective and
desirable manner.
Venting
This idea is generally used as an external coping mechanism or technique, which is
associated with outward expression of all the emotions which a person is currently experiencing.
It is different from external support as this activity is generally adopted by people in presence of
their closest associates, as well as in front of their family members, whom these individuals
could emotionally rely upon (Palgi, Gelkopf and Berger, 2015). Moreover, a positive aspect
which is linked with this type of coping strategy is that family members and friends are very well
aware about the nature of individual and know how best to deal with this individual to help them
in coping appropriately. Therefore, in relation with John, this strategy could be very helpful if he
has family members and friends whom are close to him and share a close bond. In addition, the
comfort level would also be very much effective for John with these people as usually a person
trusts their family members and close associates to garner them support at times of crisis.
Therefore, this could also be one of the strategies which could be used by John to cope up with
the condition of Maria.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Evans, L.D., and et. al., 2015. Longitudinal relations between stress and depressive symptoms in
youth: Coping as a mediator. Journal of abnormal child psychology. 43(2). pp.355-368.
Li, D., and et. al., 2016. Stressful life events and adolescent Internet addiction: The mediating
role of psychological needs satisfaction and the moderating role of coping
style. Computers in Human Behavior. 63. pp.408-415.
Lyons, M.D., Huebner, E.S. and Hills, K.J., 2016. Relations among personality characteristics,
environmental events, coping behavior and adolescents’ life satisfaction. Journal of
Happiness Studies. 17(3). pp.1033-1050.
Mousa Thabet, A.A. and Vostanis, P., 2017. Relationships between traumatic events, religious
coping style, and post-traumatic stress disorder among Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. J.
Nurs. Health Stud. 2(1).
Otto, A.K., and et. al., 2015. Capitalizing on everyday positive events uniquely predicts daily
intimacy and well-being in couples coping with breast cancer. Journal of Family
Psychology. 29(1). p.69.
Palgi, Y., Gelkopf, M. and Berger, R., 2015. The inoculating role of previous exposure to
potentially traumatic life events on coping with prolonged exposure to rocket attacks: A
lifespan perspective. Psychiatry Research. 227(2-3). pp.296-301.
Undheim, A.M. and Sund, A.M., 2017. Associations of stressful life events with coping
strategies of 12–15-year-old Norwegian adolescents. European child & adolescent
psychiatry. 26(8). pp.993-1003.
V. Lewis, J., and et. al., 2015. Negative life events and depression in adolescents with HIV: a
stress and coping analysis. AIDS care. 27(10). pp.1265-1274.
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