Social support network and received support at stressful events

Abstract

Many studies in the field of social support (e.g., Hobfoll, 1985; Thoits, 1985; Cutrona and Russell, 1990; Kienan, 1997) show that the effectiveness of a certain type of provided support and mechanisms by which the support works are often highly dependent on a specific situation, where support is needed. For instance, emotional support may be provided in a situation (e.g., an accident), where an affected person needs or expects help of a more practical kind. The provided unsuitable type of support may thus cause additional stress, dissatisfaction, feelings of being misunderstood, controlled or alienated. The context of a specific situation therefore conditions how effective a certain type of support can be. When selecting a measurement instrument presumed to be the best for assessing social support networks and social support functions we have to consider whether to ask a lot of questions about the social support network, the received social support and the perception of social support using complex items, such as name generators, or whether there are simpler ways at our disposal to correctly assess the social support provision, such as role relationship items. We should also decide whether to measure only the perception of social support or the actually received support at particular occasions as well. In this paper we compare and analyze the composition of the social support network assessed by the Antonucci's hierarchical approach, the perceived social support within social support network, and the role relation approach based on received support during 15 major life changes as they have occurred within the last three years. The composition of the social support network (overall and partial across four types of social support) is compared to the overall composition of received support.

The Intention to Hoard Food and Help during Covid-19 Pandemic

“…PSS is an individual's perception that social support would be obtained when needed (Hlebec, Mrzel, & Kogovšek, 2009). Perceived social support gives individuals a sense of acceptance that they are valued and cared for (Cao et al, 2019).…”

Lack of alternative: Chinese first-time mothers’ construction of social support network of online secondary groups

“… 14 – 16 The research on social support can be divided into two perspectives: sociological and psychological perspectives. The former emphasizes that social support network is the source where individuals obtain support, 17 while the latter focus on the personal feelings and perceptions of those supported. 18 …”

“…[14][15][16] The research on social support can be divided into two perspectives: sociological and psychological perspectives. The former emphasizes that social support network is the source where individuals obtain support, 17 while the latter focus on the personal feelings and perceptions of those supported. 18 Social support network is a special form of the social network, so we need to understand social support network in the context of social network.…”

Relational Resources of Individuals Living in Couple: Evidence from an Italian Survey

“…network results, since support from them was quite negligible in our target groups of partners, 8 disregarding the presence of coworkers might be a limitation according to some types of support. For instance Hlebec et al (2009) showed that coworkers are providing support to ego especially in work situations (such as difficulties with the boss or changes at the workplace), but not in case of health problems, changes or difficult situations where friends and kin provide much more support. McPherson et al (2006) and Dahlin et al (2008) showed that coworkers may be a source of emotional support (more specifically, they are people to whom ego talks about personal matters).…”