Gregory R. Pierce

A Brief Measure of Social Support: Practical and Theoretical Implications

Two studies leading to the development of a short form of the Social Support Questionnaire (SSQ) are reported. In Study 1 three items selected for high correlations with the total score (SSQ3) were administered to 182 university students together with several personality measures. SSQ3 had acceptable test-retest reliability and correlations with personality variables similar to those of the SSQ. Internal reliability was marginal although acceptable for an instrument with so few items. Study 2 employed three sets of data in developing a six-item instrument (SSQ6). The SSQ6 had high internal reliability and correlated highly with the SSQ and similarly to it with personality variables. The research findings accompanying the development of the short form social support measure suggest that perceived social support in adults may be a reflection of early attachment experience.

Sourcebook of Social Support and Personality

Conceptual and Methodological Issues in Research on Social Support and the Personality: Personality and Social Support Processes: A Conceptual Overview G.R. Pierce, et al. A Relational Schema Approach to Social Support T. Pierce, et al. The Dynamics of Volitional Reliance: A Motivational Perspective on Dependence, Independence, and Social Support J. Solky-Butzel, R.M. Ryan. Coping as an Individual Difference Variable J.T. Ptacek, S. Gross. Social Support, Personality, and Mental and Physical Health: Social Support, Coping, and Psychological Adjustment: A Resource Model C.J. Holahan, et al. Social Support and Personality in Depression: Implications from Behavioral Genetics J.E. Roberts, I.H. Gotlib. Social Support and Personality in Life Stress Adjustment L.H. Cohen, et al. Social Support in Marriage An Analysis of Intraindividual and Interpersonal Components L.A. Pasch, et al. Social Support, Personality and Supportive Interactions: Adult Attachment Patterns and Social Support Processes K. Bartholomew, et al. Personality and Help-Seeking: Autonomous vs. Dependent A. Nadler, J. Fisher. Social Support, Stress and Personality: Do All Women Benefit from Husbands Presence During Childbirth? G. Keinan. 9 Additional Articles. Indexes.

Perceived social support and working models of self and actual others.

Etude des relations entre le soutien social percu et (a) les perceptions de soi et des autres et (b) la perception de soi par les autres. Le role de la personnalite et des relations personnelles dans le soutien social percu est discute

Stress and Social Support

Although there are differences in how stress is conceptualized, there is agreement that challenge and threat, key features of community cataclysms, are among its most active ingredients. A major task for stress researchers is identifying pertinent individual difference variables regarding how people respond to particular types of challenge and threat. Another major task for stress researchers concerns the development of intervention programs that increase the likelihood of personal effectiveness under challenging circumstances. One intriguing finding of stress research is that, whereas some people seem to deteriorate rapidly under stress, others show only minimal or moderate deterioration; still others seem unaffected. Stress can be a catastrophe, but it can also be an opportunity for personal growth. It brings forth coping efforts that vary in effectiveness.

Conceptualizing and Assessing Social Support in the Context of the Family

Social support and family researchers have made enormous strides in documenting the many links between the supportive elements within family relationships, on one hand, and important personal outcomes, such as psychological adjustment, on the other. These efforts have contributed to a better understanding of the multidimensional nature of the social support construct and to recognition that the impact that supportive relationships have on personal outcomes is complex and requires attention to a broad range of pertinent variables. Despite these impressive developments, several topics—topics that lie at the heart of research on social support and the family—still need to be addressed. This chapter examines some of these topics and seeks to offer a new perspective from which to examine them.

Social Support and Interactional Processes: A Triadic Hypothesis

A theoretical view suggests that the impact of social support is based on interactions among three variables: (1) motivations and expectations of providers and recipients, (2) the nature of the relationships in which the supportive exchanges occur and (3) the type of situation at which the supportive behaviors are directed. We discuss research findings that illustrate the need for such an interactional approach to clarify conflicting findings and to enlarge the understanding of social support.

Social Support: Global and Relationship-Based Levels of Analysis:

This article reviews the development of a program of research on social support. It began with the construction of an instrument to assess overall support and determination of its correlation with various indicators of adjustment and performance. This led to inquiries into how people at different support levels behave socially and how they perceive the behavior of others. The results of these studies led, in turn, to focusing attention on the relative contributions to outcomes of both global and relationship-specific perceived support. We provide examples of studies that characterize each phase of the research and discuss needs for future research, with special emphasis on the need for closer integrations of research on social support and personal relationships.

Simultaneous Assessment of Perceived Global and Relationship-Specific Support

Perceived global social support and support from specific relationships are not synonymous, yet existing measures typically assess only one or the other. However, it might be possible to simultaneously assess both using the same instrument. In two studies, the reliability and validity of scores derived for specific relationship categories from the Social Support Questionnaire were examined. Separate scores were developed for mother, father and a composite score for friends. Each score exhibited good internal consistency and correlational analyses revealed both convergent and discriminant validity for each of the scores. Support from friends tended to correlate more strongly with both received support and adjustment than did parental support. Support from friends and mother, but not father, predicted perceptions of support availability. Parental support was more predictive than support from friends of the self-perceived past and present quality of familial relationships. Regression analyses indicated that support from individual relationships predicted relationship quality and adjustment, even after accounting for global support.

General and Specific Perceptions of Social Support

This chapter is intended to serve several purposes. We begin by reviewing the concept of social support and its implications for assessment, an activity that has preoccupied social support researchers for over a decade and a half. One conclusion we draw from this review is that research on social support, if it is to make significant advances, must focus its attention on the mechanisms by which the various constructs of social support lead to positive, and sometimes negative, psychological and physical health outcomes. We then briefly describe several recent lines of research on social support. Our aim is not to be exhaustive, but rather to draw attention to what we believe are some intriguing pathways for empirical inquiry. One of our major themes is that research on social support needs to take more fully into account not only the role of social support as a stress buffer, but also the complexity of social support processes. The chapter ends with a theoretical perspective that builds on available information and draws attention to several important variables in the social support equation, including (a) the personality characteristics of the recipient, especially the recipient’s general and specific expectations for social support; (b) the nature of the relationship between the recipient and the support provider, as well as other key members in the recipient’s network; and (c) the situational context in which supportive efforts take place.

The Social Context of Coping with Prostate Cancer

Abstract This investigation explored the links between coping and psychological outcomes among 57 survivors of prostate cancer who had been treated with radiation. Analyses revealed that the associations between coping and two outcomes, psychological distress and marital satisfaction, depended on the supportive context in which survivors were coping. Direct associations were observed between perceived support and the use of problem-focused and support-seeking strategies, whereas inverse associations emerged with self-blame, wishful thinking, and avoidance. The association between seeking support and marital satisfaction was strong and positive for men with high perceptions of support but was fairly weak and negative for men with low perceptions of support. Similarly, a high positive correlation emerged between wishful thinking and marital dissatisfaction for men with low perceived support, but a low negative correlation was observed between these variables for men with high perceived support.