Introduction
When there is a perceived discrepancy between environmental demands and one’s ability to meet those demands, an individual is likely to feel stress. Stress has both psychological and physiological causes and effects. To continue to function in an adaptive way, everyone must learn to cope with stress. There are many ways to cope. At one extreme, some people avoid or deny the existence of stress. At the other extreme, some people seek out and directly confront the source of stress to overcome it. One of the most-often-used approaches in coping with stress is social support, which can be used on its own or combined with other coping strategies.
Social support has many meanings. Sometimes it is defined simply as information that one receives from others. This information could come from a variety of sources—from family, friends, coworkers, or even the family’s faithful dog. For social scientists, social support is sometimes defined as the possibility of human interactions, and it can be measured by indicators such as marital status. In that case, it may be assumed that an individual who is married receives more social support than does one who is not married. This is often incorrect, however; there are many supportive relationships outside marriage—the parent-child relationship, for example.
Sidney Cobb in 1976 indicated that social support should be viewed as the receipt of information that one is cared for, is valued, and belongs to a mutually supportive social network. Parent-child relationships, and many others, would thus be possible sources of social support. This multidimensional view of social support has gained acceptance. Research in the area of social support has found common themes related to the perception of outcomes of interactions among people. In this view, there are five major outcomes constituting social support: the perception of a positive emotion toward oneself from another; agreement with another person about one’s beliefs or feelings; encouragement by another person to express one’s beliefs or feelings in a nonthreatening environment; the receipt of needed goods or services; and confirmation that one does not have to face events alone, that others will be there when needed. Viewing social support in terms of the subjective perception of an interaction rather than as the opportunity to interact with another is a useful way to conceptualize social support.
The perception of social support serves an important function in maintaining a positive sense of well-being by enabling one to cope with and adapt to stress. It has been shown to have a positive effect on physical as well as mental health. For example, the prognosis for an individual recovering from a heart attack or coping with a diagnosis of cancer is better for those with a good network of sources of social support. Research has shown that people who are depressed tend to have fewer and less supportive relationships with family members, coworkers, and friends than those who are not depressed.
There are different theories regarding the relationship between social support and stress. Some psychologists believe that social support has a buffering effect, while others believe that social support has a direct effect on stress. According to the buffering-effect model, social support is important when one is faced with a stressor because it comes between the individual and the source of stress, and thus it protects the individual from the negative effects of the stressor. In this case, social support acts as a safety net in much the same way that a physical safety net protects the trapeze artist from injury during a fall; unless there is a fall, the net does not serve any function. In contrast, the direct-effect model contends that social support is important regardless of the presence of a stressor. In this case, social support is seen as providing a generally positive effect on the individual, which would incidentally provide the individual with resources that can be called into play when faced with stress. For example, experiencing positive interactions can boost one’s self-esteem in general. The high self-esteem is incorporated into the individual’s self-concept, whether or not the person is currently dealing with a stressful event. However, when faced with stress, the self-esteem would then provide the individual with confidence to engage in problem-solving techniques to overcome the stressor. There is evidence to support both suggested mechanisms for social support, and it is likely that social support has both a buffering and a direct effect.
Despite the evidence indicating that social support helps people cope with stress, some studies show a negative effect. It seems that there are different types of social support, and it is important to match the type of support provided to the type of support needed. Tangible support is the providing of material aid in the form of goods and services. It is often needed but rarely given. One of the few instances in which it is commonly offered is following a death in the family, when friends and neighbors may bring over casseroles so that the grieving family can eat nutritious meals. Long-term tangible support is more likely to come either from impersonal sources, such as community-supported welfare programs, or from the most intimate source, the immediate family. The intermediate social network, consisting of friends and neighbors, is not likely to provide long-term tangible support.
Informational support is offered more freely by sources at all levels. This form of support serves an educational function, providing information relevant to coping with a problem. An example would be telling people the proper authority to call when they have no heat in their apartments. The third form of social support is emotional support, which comes from the more intimate sources, one’s family and close friends. This form of support involves expressing positive feelings toward an individual, acknowledging that person’s worth, and accepting his or her expressions of beliefs and feelings.
A number of factors might influence whether social support is provided. One factor is the perception of the person needing help of the likelihood that the desired support would actually be provided. If a person believes that he or she will get the help that is needed, that person is more likely to seek out social support. Studies have shown that individuals who are reluctant to seek help are less likely to receive the support they desperately need. Another factor that can influence the likelihood that social support will be provided is the person who could provide the desired support. That person has to perceive that there is an actual need on the part of the person requesting help. The individual also has to determine whether he or she can provide the appropriate type of support. Finally, the person who needs help has to be willing to accept the offer of social support when it is made. It is important to remember that the receivers of social support are not the only potential beneficiaries of the interaction. Providers of social support can also benefit from the interaction. In fact, studies show that even young children have a need to be helpful to others, particularly people in their families.
Support Settings
Social support is applied in a variety of settings, both informal and formal. Informal settings for social support include the sharing of one’s problems with friends and family. For example, an advertising executive may be under pressure to put together a campaign for the company’s biggest client, who is considering changing firms. Informational support may come from the executive’s coworkers over lunch. She might explain to her coworkers the problems she is facing designing the program. The coworkers might have faced similar problems, and they could tell the executive what they did to cope with the problems when they were experiencing them. The coworkers might provide tangible support by volunteering their time to work together on the campaign. Emotional support is more likely to come from the executive’s family when she describes her day over dinner. The family members need to convey their love and respect to the executive. In this case, they need to indicate that their regard for the person is not dependent on the success of any advertising account. It might be counterproductive for the spouse to express confidence in the executive’s ability to develop a successful campaign; the executive may then feel under more pressure, because now she not only has to worry about keeping the account but also may worry about disillusioning her spouse and losing that important source of support. Members of social networks need to be careful that they provide the correct form of social support, because providing support that does not match the needs of the recipient may be harmful.
Social support is important not only in a work setting but in a personal setting as well. For example, a man who is trying to lose weight would benefit from emotional support from his family and friends who let him know that they care about him and support his decision to lose weight. When dieting gets difficult, loved ones might be tempted to tell the dieter that they think he is fine just the way he is. That is not supportive of his decision to lose weight, however, and it works against his success. Informational support can be provided by giving the dieter information about ingredients and methods of meal preparation. This kind of support can be provided by a variety of people; waiters are generally quite willing to discuss this subject with restaurant patrons to give the needed information for a wise choice from the menu. This kind of support is requested so often, in fact, that many restaurants include such information on the menus themselves—an example of social support that is community based. Tangible support for weight loss can come from a diet or exercise partner who embarks on a weight-loss program with the dieter; another example would be a friend who provides low-calorie meals for the dieter.
Another informal setting in which social support is increasingly being provided is on the Internet. There has been a proliferation of Internet news and support groups that provide both informational and emotional support to individuals facing a number of physical and mental illnesses including diabetes, cancer, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), and depression. The use of support groups by the elderly in particular, many of whom may have been socially isolated prior to their use of the Internet, has increased significantly.
Formal Support
These examples of situations in which people need social support can also be used to illustrate support in a formal setting. The executive who is undergoing stress might seek professional help from a counselor. A counseling situation takes place in a supportive environment and is generally focused on emotional support; however, some therapy situations can also provide informational and tangible support. Behavior therapy can be a source of informational support, such as when the executive is given homework assignments to identify what specific behaviors or thoughts are triggers for her stress. A clear identification of the trigger will aid in setting up a program to combat the stress. Sometimes people take part in group therapy settings, where a counselor works with several clients at the same time. Participants in the session become a tight social network that provides emotional, informational, and sometimes even tangible support. In this case, the executive might practice her presentation for the group, and the other members’ critique might include new ideas or techniques that can be used to solve her problem. Constructive criticism of a presentation is a service that could be considered a form of tangible support, as well as informational and emotional support.
A dieter can get support in a formal setting by joining an organized group such as Weight Watchers or Overeaters Anonymous. Losing weight alone can be a difficult task, and research has demonstrated that successful weight reduction is more likely to occur in group settings. Emotional support comes from fellow dieters who understand exactly what the dieter is experiencing and accept him as he is. In this case, everyone has the same problem, so the dieter does not feel that he does not fit in to society. Informational support comes from the group leader, who helps set goals and explains what behaviors need to be modified to achieve those goals. It also comes from other group members, who share recipes and advice on how to combat challenges. Tangible support comes in the form of the low-calorie meals provided by some weight-control programs or of a bond with a group member who can become an exercise partner. Social support from groups of people with common problems has been found to be so helpful that the number of such support, or self-help, groups is growing enormously. These groups are being founded for people with a wide range of problems: rape victims, people with alcohol dependency, spouses of military personnel stationed in a war zone, parents of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) victims, and caregivers of individuals with physical or mental illnesses. Formal social support groups, in a sense, act as the extended family that may be absent in a modern, mobile society.
Because positive social support has been associated with improved mental and physical health and overall well-being, interventions designed to promote positive health behaviors and to reduce adverse health behaviors have been targeted for not only individuals at risk but also their social support networks, which can play a significant role in influencing an individual’s behavior. For example, in the attempt to reduce drinking and driving among young people, advertisers have used slogans such as “Friends don’t let friends drive drunk,” hoping to encourage peers to support responsible drinking and the use of designated drivers. Physicians have also discovered that patients are more likely to comply with their advice if spouses and children are involved in the treatment regimen, because these patients are more likely to practice safe health behaviors and comply with treatment if they feel they have the support of family and friends. Thus, the concept of social support can be useful not only in helping individuals cope when faced with stressful events in both formal and informal settings but also in enlisting the cooperation of an individual’s social support network to promote successful behavioral health change.
Theories of Support
Social support is best understood in the context of social comparison theory, first presented by Leon Festinger in 1954. People have a need to be “correct,” to do the right thing, and to behave in a socially appropriate manner. It is not always easy to determine the correct position to hold in different situations. For example, how does someone decide what to wear to a party? Often, an individual will call a friend who is also going to the party and ask what the friend is planning to wear. A person tends to make decisions in ambiguous situations by observing what other people are doing. In general, one feels comfortable when behaving, dressing, or thinking in a manner that is similar to those around one. A woman is likely to feel uncomfortable and underdressed if she wears a skirt and blouse to a party where everyone else is in formal attire. A skirt and blouse are perfectly acceptable articles of clothing for a woman and are no less functional at a party than a formal gown would be. She may have worn that outfit to a social gathering previously and felt perfectly comfortable. When everyone else is dressed differently, however, she feels that she stands out and therefore is not dressed correctly. Correctness is determined by majority standards. People learn by the process of socialization to conform to those around them. Social comparison is the process by which people learn norms, or social expectations, in different settings.
In the process of learning norms, one also learns the social benefits of conformity: acceptance by others. When an individual expresses an idea or behavior that is consistent with the ideas or behaviors of others, then the social group is comfortable around that person and permits that person to join the group. If that person deviates from the group norm, then that person may be ostracized by the group. This is the basis of peer pressure, which people learn to apply at a young age.
When people turn to others for informational social support, they often are looking for guidance to help fit in with a social norm—to do or think the right thing. Emotional social support tells one that one is like others and is valued and accepted by others. Tangible social support tells one that one’s needs are acceptable and that other people will perform behaviors similar to one’s own behavior to meet those needs. The goal of both social comparison and social support is to validate oneself by ensuring that one does not deviate from social expectations.
In an interesting experiment designed to test the role of social comparison in emotional reactions, subjects were asked to wait until it was their turn to participate in an experiment; the experiment was explained to some subjects in a way designed to create apprehension. Subjects were given the opportunity either to wait alone or to wait with others. Those who were made fearful tended to want to wait with others more than did subjects who were not made fearful. This preference demonstrated that fear creates a desire to affiliate. More important, however, subjects showed a preference to wait with others only if they were told that the others were waiting for the same experiment. In this context, it is easy to understand the growth of support groups for specific problems. When facing a stressful situation, people need to be around others who can really understand what they are going through—in other words, other people with the same problem. There is strength in numbers.
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