Correlates of social support receipt.

Abstract

Psychological correlates of social support receipt were examined in an investigation of stress and coping among 150 middle-aged community residents. Subjects were interviewed monthly for 6 months, each time concerning a specific stressful situation in the previous month. Social support received and methods of coping were assessed each time, as well as other variables. Factors hypothesized to be associated with support receipt were person predispositions, appraisal patterns with regard to specific stressful encounters, and coping strategies used. Each was most strongly associated with a particular type of social support. Person predispositions related most strongly to emotional support received, appraisal factors related most strongly to aid, and coping strategies related most to informational support received. Furthermore, of the three sets of variables, the individual's ways of coping appeared to be most strongly associated with all types of social support received. Two implications are explored. First, we suggest that the three types of social support studied represent different constructs with different antecedents and consequences. Second, we argue that coping behavior provides interpersonal cues regarding what is wanted or needed in a stressful situation and that the members of the social environment respond accordingly. Social support has been defined by House (1981) as "an interpersonal transaction involving one or more of the following: (1) emotional concern (liking, love, empathy), (2) instrumental aid (goods or services), (3) information (about the environment), or (4) appraisal (information relevant to self-evaluation)" (p. 39). The concept of social support is in vogue among stress researchers in psychology and behavioral medicine for two reasons. First, social support appears to mediate the effects of life stress on health and well-being (see reviews by Berkman,

To Invest or Not? The Role of Coworker Support and Trust in Daily Reciprocal Gain Spirals of Helping Behavior

“…Trust stems from higher perceived social support (Dunkel-Schetter, Folkman, & Lazarus, 1987;Karasek, Triantis, & Chaudhry, 1982;Mayer et al, 1995). Trust is so closely related to coworker support that Settoon and Mossholder (2002) found them correlated at .67 (p < .01) in their study of 273 university and medical center service employees, but they are distinct constructs.…”

Coping through emotional approach: Scale construction and validation.

“…Items on which all raters agreed (acknowledgment, 10 items; processing, 13 items; expression, 10 items) were included on a dispositional coping scale. Instructions were adapted from Dunkel-Schetter, Folkman, and Lazarus (1987) and from Carver et al (1989) to read as follows:…”

Intimacy and relationship processes in couples' psychosocial adaptation to cancer

“…Some behaviors that are intended as supportive on the part of the healthy partner are not perceived as such by patients. [84][85][86] Examples are attempts to avoid discussing concerns or topics that may cause the patient distress (typically labeled ''protective buffering'') and giving advice when the patient was not asking for advice. Crosssectional 67 and longitudinal studies 87,88 indicate that attempts to avoid discussing concerns or topics are associated with increased distress for both partners.…”