Gender differences in social support: a question of skill or responsiveness?

Spouses often report that wives provide better social support than husbands. Yet studies observing spouses' supportive interactions challenge this perception, finding no differences between husbands' and wives' supportive behaviors. This article offers reconciliation by suggesting that husbands and wives may differ, not in their skill at providing support, but in their responsiveness to their partners' changing needs over time. Observational and diary data from couples confirmed that, whereas husbands and wives did not differ on average in the support they provided each other, they did differ in the timing of that support. Wives tended to provide better support on days that their husbands experienced greater stress. However, when wives experienced greater stress, their husbands displayed both support and negativity.     

Do the sources of the urban elderly's social support determine its psychological consequences?

This article examines whether the psychological impact of different kinds of social supports varies according to who provides them. Data on 82 older adults' social relationships, measured as social provisions (Weiss, 1974), were used to evaluate whether the relationship between social provisions and emotional well-being varied when kin and, alternatively, nonkin, made the provisions. Findings showed that, although most social provisions were valuable regardless of their source, reassurance of worth was distinctly more beneficial when provided by nonkin than by kin, and reliable alliance, or instrumental assistance, was more strongly related to well-being when provided by kin than by nonkin. Analysis of social network structure showed that "multiplexity" was negatively related to well-being, and having duplicate providers for a given social provision was uniquely important in offsetting negative affect.     

Collectivize social support? Elements for reconsidering the social dimension in the study of social support

Psychological models of mental disorders play an important role in the explanation of psychological deterioration. Researchers from this area usually study several cognitive and behavioral variables to account for the onset and maintenance of depression. However, many authors have detected the need to include a "social dimension" in the explanation of deterioration. In this sense, social support has become a crucial aspect in the study of mental health, and the psychological literature on this topic has generated an intense debate about several facets of the positive impact of social networks on psychological well-being. In this article, the author defends that this increasing centrality of the concept has been accompanied by a psychological reductionism that is making the role of "social aspects" to explain psychological well-being more problematic. Implications of this reductionism are discussed, and an alternative proposal is made to overcome some theoretical and empirical problems related to social support research.     

The role of intimacy and social support in health outcomes: Two processes or one?

That intimacy and social support are related to an individual's health and well-being has often been noted. The present study had two goals. First, we intended to establish whether intimacy and social support were related to mental and physical health in a large, representative community sample. Second, we sought to determine whether intimacy and social support make unique contributions to predicting health, as a step toward developing a model of the relation between these processes. Results strongly supported the initial hypothesis that intimacy and social support were both related to health status. We also found that the effects of intimacy on well-being were mediated by social support, but that the effects of social support were not mediated by intimacy. We therefore concluded that the health-promoting benefits of intimacy most likely occur because intimate relationships are likely to engender higher levels of social support. Distinguishing unique and shared prediction effects is a generic concern for disciplines that study variables that are naturally correlated in real life, such as in the field of personal relationships.     

Victims' perceptions of social support: what is helpful from whom?

Although research has demonstrated that social interactions influence psychological well-being, little is known about what specific actions victims of stressful life events experience as helpful or unhelpful. Wortman and Dunkel-Schetter (1979) previously suggested that victims frequently experience rejection, withdrawal, and communication problems with those close to them. To address these issues, 55 cancer patients were interviewed concerning the specific actions they found to be helpful or unhelpful from several potential support providers: spouse, other family members, friends, acquaintances, others with cancer, physicians, and nurses. The data indicated that the Wortman and Dunkel-Schetter victimization model applied better to interactions with friends and acquaintances than to interactions with close family members. In addition, support was found to be partially dependent on the source: Particular actions were perceived to be helpful from some but not other network members. Implications for theory and research on social support are discussed.     

Pacemaker deactivation: withdrawal of support or active ending of life?

In spite of ethical analyses assimilating the palliative deactivation of pacemakers to commonly accepted withdrawings of life-sustaining therapy, many clinicians remain ethically uncomfortable with pacemaker deactivation at the end of life. Various reasons have been posited for this discomfort. Some cardiologists have suggested that reluctance to deactivate pacemakers may stem from a sense that the pacemaker has become part of the patient??s ??self.?? The authors suggest that Daniel Sulmasy is correct to contend that any such identification of the pacemaker is misguided. The authors argue that clinicians uncomfortable with pacemaker deactivation are nevertheless correct to see it as incompatible with the traditional medical ethics of withdrawal of support. Traditional medical ethics is presently taken by many to sanction pacemaker deactivation when such deactivation honors the patient??s right to refuse treatment. The authors suggest that the right to refuse treatment applies to treatments involving ongoing physician agency. This right cannot underwrite patient demands that physicians reverse the effects of treatments previously administered, in which ongoing physician agency is no longer implicated. The permanently indwelling pacemaker is best seen as such a treatment. As such, its deactivation in the pacemaker-dependent patient is best seen not as withdrawal of support but as active ending of life. That being the case, clinicians adhering to the usual ethical analysis of withdrawal of support are correct to be uncomfortable with pacemaker deactivation at the end of life.     

Self-esteem: An antecedent or a consequence of social support and psychosomatic symptoms? Cross-lagged associations in adulthood

This study investigated the relationships of self-esteem with social support and psychosomatic symptoms in cross-lagged longitudinal data with two measurement points and a time lag of 6 years. Two hundred thirteen participants were drawn from the ongoing Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development, Finland. The present study focused on data collected by questionnaires at ages 36 and 42. The cross-lagged analyses of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) indicated that high self-esteem at age 36 predicted high social support 6 years later and simultaneously, but to a lesser extent, high social support at age 36 predicted high self-esteem at age 42. In addition, low levels of psychosomatic symptoms at age 36 were associated with high self-esteem 6 years later, but not vice versa.     

Who talks? The social psychology of illness support groups

More Americans try to change their health behaviors through self-help than through all other forms of professionally designed programs. Mutual support groups, involving little or no cost to participants, have a powerful effect on mental and physical health, yet little is known about patterns of support group participation in health care. What kinds of illness experiences prompt patients to seek each other's company? In an effort to observe social comparison processes with real-world relevance, support group participation was measured for 20 disease categories in 4 metropolitan areas (New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Dallas) and on 2 on-line forums. Support seeking was highest for diseases viewed as stigmatizing (e.g., AIDS, alcoholism, breast and prostate cancer) and was lowest for less embarrassing but equally devastating disorders, such as heart disease. The authors discuss implications for social comparison theory and its applications in health care.     

Why is enacted social support associated with increased distress? Using simulation to test two possible sources of spuriousness

Although perceiving that social support is available is often associated with psychological benefits in times of stress, there is evidence that actually receiving support is associated with increased distress. To assess whether this latter association could be spurious, the authors conducted computer simulation studies to examine two theoretical models that could give rise to it. Study 1 examined a process whereby distress leads to provision of support rather than the reverse. Study 2 examined a process whereby an adverse event increases both support and distress. In both cases, substantial spurious associations were produced only when parameter values were markedly unrealistic. It was concluded that these possible sources of spuriousness are insufficient to explain the association between support and distress found in naturalistic studies.     

Does social identification harm or serve as a buffer? The impact of social identification on anger after experiencing social discrimination

Research on targets' affective reactions to social discrimination has not yet addressed self- and other-directed anger at the same time. Four studies tested the hypothesis that the perceived cause of negative feedback moderates the impact of social identification on self-directed anger. In Studies 1 and 2, high levels of social identification led to less self-directed anger when negative feedback was attributed to social discrimination but not when it was attributed either to other external causes or internally. In Study 3, a cross-lagged design showed that higher identification led to less self-directed anger when negative feedback was attributed to social discrimination but not the other way around. This effect was found using scenarios (Studies 1-3) and also when using the recollection of personal experiences to manipulate attribution (Study 4). These results indicate that following social discrimination, social identification protects the self and does not increase individual vulnerability.     

Prospective relations between social support and depression: differential direction of effects for parent and peer support?

The authors tested whether deficits in perceived social support predicted subsequent increases in depression and whether depression predicted subsequent decreases in social support with longitudinal data from adolescent girls (N = 496). Deficits in parental support but not peer support predicted future increases in depressive symptoms and onset of major depression. In contrast, initial depressive symptoms and major depression predicted future decreases in peer support but not parental support. Results are consistent with the theory that support decreases the risk for depression but suggest that this effect may be specific to parental support during early adolescence. Results are also consonant with the claim that depression promotes support erosion but imply that this effect may only occur with peer support during this period.     

Reciprocal support provision: personality as a moderator?

In some cases, support provision can be predicted by the history of prior social exchange. Receiving may encourage providing. Moreover, personality dispositions may moderate the degree to which persons reciprocate support. Co‐student dyads (N = 43) facing an exam repeatedly reported their levels of received and provided support. Data revealed both direct and moderated reciprocal support provision. Actors' receipt of emotional support predicted the subsequent change in actors' provision of emotional support, indicating reciprocity. Also, more reciprocal emotional support provision was found in introverted and open individuals, whereas more reciprocal instrumental support provision was observed in introverts and less open individuals. Findings were partially validated when partner‐provided support instead of actor‐received support served as the predictor of later support provision. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

What measure of interpersonal dependency predicts changes in social support?

One of the most intriguing characteristics of interpersonal dependency is its ability to predict elevated levels of social support. Yet studies of interpersonal dependency use various measures to assess this effect. In this study, I compared 3 commonly used measures of interpersonal dependency in terms of their prediction of social support: Hirschfield's Interpersonal Dependency Inventory (IDI; Hirschfeld et al., 1977), the dependency factor of the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ; Blatt, D'Afflitti, & Quinlan, 1976), and the Dependency subscale of the Personal Style Inventory (PSI; Robins et al., 1994). A total of 152 undergraduates were administered these measures as well as measures of depressive symptoms and social support a week prior to their first exam period and a week after this period (interval time = 8 weeks). DEQ-dependency predicted an increase in social support, whereas PSI-Dependency and IDI predicted a decrease in social support over time. DEQ-dependency appears to capture better than the other 2 measures the dialectic tension between risk and resilience in interpersonal dependency.     

Social support from work and family domains as an antecedent or moderator of work-family conflicts?

On the basis of Conservation of Resources theory, we investigated how social support from supervisor, co-workers, life partner, and family members is associated with work-family conflicts in N = 107 working mothers. We used data from a cross-sectional questionnaire and a standardized diary to examine two possible forms of interplay: (a) Social support as an antecedent of work-family conflicts, and (b) moderating effects of social support on the relationship between domain-specific strain and work-family conflicts. Overall, results favored social support as an antecedent of work-family conflicts.     

Career support for migrants: Transformation or adaptation?

The complex interfaces created by migration not only challenge core beliefs about the purpose of career guidance and counseling but also about the precise nature and level of the support required for migrants. However, the issue has had little academic attention. While traditional theories informing the practice of career guidance and counseling implicitly reflect a commitment to social equality, they were developed in relatively homogenous Western capitalist contexts that were strongly individualized, masculine, secular, action and future focused. As career guidance and counseling services in more individualized countries seek to meet the needs of a growing number of clients from more collectivist cultures, the universal relevance of such models is increasingly open to challenge. This article explores three core challenges posed by migration for the theory and practice of career guidance and counseling. The first relates to the very purpose of these types of services for migrants; the second, to the way in which migration requires a realignment of the relationship of theory with practice; and the third relates to the need to redefine service delivery models for this client group. The extent to which notions of “quality” in services are culturally dependent will also be considered, together with the potential for general service improvements being stimulated by the provision of high quality services for migrants.     

Culture and social support: who seeks it and why?

Are Asians and Asian Americans more or less likely to seek social support for dealing with stress than European Americans? On the one hand, the collectivist orientation of Asian countries might favor the sharing of stressful problems; on the other hand, efforts to maintain group harmony might discourage such efforts. In 2 studies, Koreans (Study 1) and Asians and Asian Americans in the United States (Study 2) reported using social support less for coping with stress than European Americans. Study 3 examined potential explanations for these effects and revealed that relationship concerns accounted for the cultural differences in use of support seeking. Discussion centers on the potential benefits and liabilities of seeking social support.     

Action or attention in social inhibition of return?

Psychological Research - When two individuals alternate reaching responses to targets located in a visual display, reaction times are longer when responses are directed to where the co-actor just...     

General and relationship-based perceptions of social support: are two constructs better than one?

Two hypotheses derived from a theory of perceived social support were investigated: (a) relationship-based perceptions of social support are distinct from general perceptions of support, and (b) measures of each construct contribute uniquely to the prediction of loneliness. Ninety-four male and 116 female undergraduates completed measures of loneliness and general perceived social support and the Quality of Relationships Inventory, a new instrument to assess relationship-based perceptions of social support, conflict, and depth in specific relationships. General and relationship-based perceptions of social support were found to be related, but empirically distinct, constructs. Relationship-based perceptions of support and conflict from mothers and friends each added to the prediction of loneliness after considering the contribution of general perceived social support. Implications of these findings for understanding the perceived social support construct are discussed.