Social Psychological Foundations of Health and Illness

Jerry Suls is Professor of Psychology at the University of Iowa. He has published more than 130 articles and chapters on social psychology and health psychology and is the author or editor of numerous books, including Psychological Perspectives on Self and Identity (edited with Abraham Tesser and Richard B. Felson, 2000) and Handbook of Social Comparison (edited with Ladd Wheeler, 2000). Kenneth A. Wallston is Professor of Psychology in Nursing at Vanderbilt University. He has published extensively on perceived control and health as well as on adaptation to rheumatoid arthritis. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Society of Behavioral Medicine and has been the editor of the newsletter The Health Psychologist since 1993.

• List of contributors. Preface.1. Introduction to Social Psychological Foundations of Health and Illness: Jerry Suls (University of Iowa) and Kenneth A. Wallston (Vanderbilt University).Part I: Models of Health/Risk Behavior and Behavior Change:.2. Healthy Lifestyle across the Life-Span: The Heck with the Surgeon General: Howard Friedman (University of California, Riverside).3. Exploring the links between risk perceptions and preventive behavior: Neil Weinstein (Cook College).4. Communicating about Health: Message Framing, Persuasion and Health Behavior: Peter Salovey (Yale University) and Duane Wegener (Purdue University).5. The Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills Model: A General Social Psychological Approach to Understanding and Promoting Health Behavior: William A. Fisher (University of Western Ontario), Jeffrey D. Fisher (University of Connecticut), and Jennifer J. Harman (University of Connecticut).6. A Social Reaction Model of Adolescent Health Risk: Frederick X. Gibbons, Meg Gerrard, and David J. Lane (all Iowa State University).7. Affect, Thought and Protective Health Behavior: The Case of Worry and Cancer Screening: Kevin McCaul and Amy Boedicker Mullens (both North Dakota State University).8. Social-Cognitive Factors in Health Behavior Change: Britta Renner (Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universitaet Greifswald) and Ralf Schwarzer (Free University of Berlin).Part II: Social-Cognitive Processes in Health:.9. Common Sense Models of Illness: Implications for Symptom Perception and Health-Related Behaviors: René Martin (University of Iowa), Nan Rothrock (University of Iowa), Howard Leventhal (Rutgers University), and Elaine Leventhal (University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey).10. Contributions of Social Comparison to Physical Illness and Well-Being: Jerry Suls (University of Iowa).11. Interpersonal Emotional Processes in Adjustment to Chronic Illness: Robert F. DeVellis, Megan A. Lewis, and Katherine Regan Sterba (all University of North Carolina).12. The Social, Linguistic and Health Consequences of Emotional Disorder: James Pennebaker (University of Texas at Austin).13. Affiliation, Social Support and Biobehavioral Responses to Health: Shelley Taylor (University of California, Los Angeles), Laura Cousino Klein (Pennsylvania State University), Tara L. Gruenewald (University of California, Los Angeles), Regan A.R. Gurung (University of Wisconsin), and Sara Fernandes-Taylor (University of California, Los Angeles).Part III: Personality and Health:.14. Toward a Social Psychophysiology of Cardiovascular Reactivity: Interpersonal Concepts and Methods in the Study of Stress and Coronary Disease: Timothy Smith (University of Utah), Linda Gallo (San Diego State University), and John Ruiz (University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine).15. Gender-Related Traits and Health: Vicki Helgeson (Carnegie Mellon University).16. Self-Regulatory Processes and Responses to Health Threats: Effects of Optimism on Well-Being: Michael Scheier (Carnegie Mellon University) and Charles Carver (University of Miami).Part IV: Adaptation to Stress and Chronic Illness:.17. The Influence of Psychological Factors on Restorative Function in Health and Illness: Ashley W. Smith and Andrew Baum (both University of Pittsburgh).18. Coping and Adjustment in Rheumatoid Arthritis: Craig A. Smith, Kenneth A. Wallston, and Kathleen A. Dwyer (all Vanderbilt University).19. Daily Processes in Health and Illness: Howard Tennen (University of Connecticut Health Center), Glenn Affleck (University of Connecticut Health Center), and Stephen Armelli (Pace University).20. Scenes from a Marriage: The Coupling of Support, Coping and Gender within the Context of Chronic Illness: Tracey A. Revenson (City University of New York Graduate Center).Index.

"Clinical Practice gives Health Psychology its heart, but Social Psychology is the brains behind the operation. With this ingenious collection of scholarly papers, Professors Suls and Wallston provide us with engagingly written and intellectually powerful social psychological models of health and illness. Their edited volume has much to offer to students, educators, researchers and practitioners alike. It is a 'must' read for all those with serious interest in the psychological foundations of health." Alex Zautra, Arizona State University"Written by leading experts in the field, the book is a compendium ... of the leading research in the field." R. L. Jones, Pennsylvania State University, Hershey Medical Center, Choice, January 2004 "The particular value of this volume lies in the overview it gives of the most significant theoretical and methodological contributions to health and illness. Moreover the volume is successful in stimulating further investigation into the relatively unexplored social psychological contributions. Suls and Wallston were able to collect contributions from scholars that reflected not only new advances in theory but also the more classic theories ... The volume is highly recommended as a significant contribution to understandings of health and illness and will serve as a valuable resource for academics and health promotion specialists engaged in health related studies and health promotion practice." Anna Meyer-Weitz, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Psychology In Society, 2004, 30, 54-57