Additionally, negative interaction can manifest itself in heightened psychological stress (Cohen, 2004), irrespective of whether the negative interaction was intended or was perceived to be harmful and unsatisfactory. This is somewhat in line with some dimension of social support that has been conceptualized based on the relevance of support to the recipient (Lakey & Cohen, 2000). At this point, it can be inferred that the inconsistency in social support conceptualization can somewhat be attributed to the multidimensional nature of social support itself. The conceptualization issues may also lead to accessibility concerns and or inappropriate use of construct, without a clear distinction between what is and what is not social support. Considering …show more content…
Although peer support can be considered a form of social support, it has separate determinants for conceptualization (Goldsmith, 2004) and is a fairly new theoretical endeavor under the broad domain of social support. There have been documented positive outcomes resulting from the use of peer support (Eisen, Schultz, Mueller, Degenhart, Clark, Resnick, Christiansen, Armstrong, Bottonari, Rosenheck, & Sadow , 2012 ; Lloyd-Evans, Mayo-Wilson, Harrison, Istead, Brown, Pilling, Johnson & Kendall, 2014; Pfeiffer, Heisler, Piette, Rogers, & Valenstein, 2011; Schwartza, & Sendor, 1999; ) which have been attributed to mutual experiences, respect and trust from each of the individuals involved (Dennis, 2003; Mead, Hilton & Curtis, 2001). However, there is still a relatively small body of theoretical information and consistent evidence to understand and commend peer support, in a way that can optimize the benefits of psychological stress