Individual and Community Stress: Integration of Approaches at Different Levels

Abstract

The last two decades have witnessed a dramatic increase of theoretical and empirical efforts aimed at understanding the nature of the human stress process. The contemporary literature includes many theoretical propositions, integrative models, and research findings that have advanced our ability to predict and explain people's responses to stressful life circumstances (e.g., Ensel & Lin, 1991; Goldberger & Breznitz, 1993; Hobfoll, 1988; Jerusalem, 1993; Jerusalem & Schwarzer, 1989; Lazarus, 1991; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984; Moos, 1986; Pearlin, 1989). However, the vast majority of this literature has focused on the analysis of the stress process at the level of the individual. We know a great deal about how a single person in the context of his or her own personal resources, stress appraisals, coping efforts and environmental constraints confronts a variety of stressful circumstances. In contrast, community stress processes, that pertain to the issue of what happens when an entire community is affected by a common stressor, have been examined less frequently. Are there parallels between the essentials of individual stress processes and the dynamics of stress at the community level? Is it possible to conceptually differentiate between both stress processes and to integrate them into a common theoretical framework? Certainly, there are no readily available answers to these challenging questions.