Figure 1 suggests how stress may work in concert with other mechanisms to affect health habits. For example, stress may contribute to psychological distress and physiological arousal (e.g., increased heart rate) (Kassel et al. 2003), and individuals may use certain behaviors (e.g., drinking, overeating) to cope with stress and reduce unpleasant arousal (Ensel & Lin 2004, Kassel et al. 2003). Children experience family stress and learn coping strategies from families, including eating, drinking, and smoking (Repetti et al. 2002, Taylor & Repetti 1997). Although social support may help to buffer individuals from the impact of stress (Uchino 2004), stress may also undermine social ties that are ordinarily supportive. For example, the divorce of parents may force an adolescent to leave old friends behind and transfer to a new school, and unemployment may add to marital stress among adults. Pearlin and associates’ (2005) concept of “stress proliferation” refers to this tendency of stressors to amplify one another. Although Figure 1 emphasizes that stress undermines health habits, some habits—for example, heavy drinking and significant weight gain—also stress social ties (Carr & Friedman 2006, Kiecolt-Glaser & Newton 2001).
