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17 J. Soc. & Soc. Welfare 3 (1990)
Perceived Stress, Social Support and Survival: North Carolina Farm Operators and the Farm Crisis

handle is hein.journals/jrlsasw17 and id is 347 raw text is: Perceived Stress, Social Support and Survival: North Carolina Farm Operators and the Farm Crisis* MICHAEL D. SCHULMAN AND PAULA S. ARMSTRONG North Carolina State University Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work The current farm crisis draws attention to the sources and consequences of the stress process among farm operators. Using panel data from statewide surveys of North Carolina farm operators collected during a period of eco- nomic and ecological crisis, the relationships among perceived stress, social support, and survival in agriculture are investigated. Analyses reveal that while the level of perceived stress has no relationship with survival, social support has a significant impact upon both social psychological (plans to remain in farming) and behavioral (continuing as a farm operator) dimen- sions of survival in agriculture. Perceived social support increased plans to remain in agriculture and increased the probability of an operator continu- ing farming. The results point to the importance of social support and have implications for policy intervention and programs. The term farm crisis is used to describe the negative expe- riences of farm families in the 1980s (Keating, 1987; Thompson & McCubbin, 1987) which have often been described as the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s (Harl, 1986). Because the farm crisis places extra demands on farm families, concern with farmers' high levels of stress has become a national issue. * Paper number 12465 of the Journal Series of the North Carolina Agricul- tural Research Service, Raleigh, N.C. 27695-7601. Revised version of paper presented at the annual meetings of the Southern Sociological Society, April, 1989, Norfolk, Virginia. Data collected for this research are part of the North Carolina Farm and Rural Life Study (1987), a project of the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina. The North Carolina Farm and Rural Life Study is supported by the North Carolina Agricultural Research Service and the North Carolina Agricultural Foundation. The opinions expressed are those of the authors who would like to thank Michael Schwalbe for comments on previ- ous drafts.

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