Social support is the perception and actuality that one is cared for, has assistance available from other people, and most popularly, that one is part of a supportive social network. These supportive resources can be emotional (e.g., nurturance), informational (e.g., advice), or companionship (e.g., sense of belonging); tangible (e.g., financial assistance) or intangible (e.g., personal advice). Social support can be measured as the perception that one has assistance available, the actual received assistance, or the degree to which a person is integrated in a social network. Support can come from many sources, such as family, friends, pets, neighbors, coworkers, organizations, etc.
Social support is studied across a wide range of disciplines including psychology, communications, medicine, sociology, nursing, public health, education, rehabilitation, and social work. Social support has been linked to many benefits for both physical and mental health, but "social support" (e.g., gossiping about friends) is not always beneficial.
Social support theories and models were prevalent as intensive academic studies in the 1980s and 1990s,[1][2][3][4][5] and are linked to the development of caregiver and payment models, and community delivery systems in the US and around the world.[6] Two main models have been proposed to describe the link between social support and health: the buffering hypothesis and the direct effects hypothesis.[7] Gender and cultural differences in social support have been found [8] in fields such as education "which may not control for age, disability, income and social status, ethnic and racial, or other significant factors".
- ^ Vaux, A. (1988). Social Support: Theory, Research and Interventions. My, NY: Praeger.
- ^ Drennon-Gala, D. (1987). The effect of social support that is perceived by children in early adolescence and its relationship with antisocial behavior. (Paper presented during a colloquy at the University of Rochester, Rochester, NY).
- ^ Drennon-Gala, D. (1994). The effects of social support and inner containment on the propensity toward delinquent behavior and disengagement in education (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations Publishing. 942562.
- ^ Drennon-Gala, D. (1995). Drennon-Gala, D. (1995). Delinquency and high school dropouts: reconsidering social correlates. Maryland: University Press of America; a member of the Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group.
- ^ Racino, J. (2006). Social support. In: G. Albrecht, Encyclopedia on Disability, 1470-1471. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
- ^ O'Connor, S. (1995). More than they bargained for: The meaning of support to families. In: S. J. Taylor, R. Bogdan, & Lutfiyya, Z.M. The Variety of Community Experience (pp.193-210). Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.
- ^ Association, American Psychiatric (1997). DSM-IV Sourcebook. American Psychiatric Association. ISBN 9780890420744.
- ^ Harry, B., Kaylanpur, M. and Day, M. (1999). Building Cultural Reciprocity with Families: Case Studies in Special Education. London, Toronto: Brookes.