This diversity of ways in which support is defined is important and can provide greater specificity (context) to research findings.Īn important line of research in this area centers on extending our understanding of links between social support in its various forms and morbidity and mortality. Support is often further broken into different types– for instance instrumental support and emotional support-as often people have preferences for different types of aid depending on the circumstances. How the functional components are measured often varies between studies transactions may be summarized by actual support received (often ascertained by asking the support providers 5), perceived support received or available 6, or the discrepancy between perceived support and received support 7. different types of transactions between individuals, such as emotional support or favors 4). social integration: being a part of different networks and participating socially 3) and the functional components (e.g. Most broadly, support can be conceptualized in terms of the structural components (e.g. It is important to note that social support in these studies is operationalized in several different ways. These include (1) social support influences on morbidity, mortality, and quality of life in chronic disease populations, (2) understanding the mechanisms responsible for such associations, and (3) how we might apply such findings to design relevant interventions. Current research has focused on expanding several areas of knowledge in this area.
In fact, social isolation itself was identified as an independent major risk factor for all-cause mortality 2.
Prior work has found that those with high quality or quantity of social networks have a decreased risk of mortality in comparison to those who have low quantity or quality of social relationships, even after statistically controlling for baseline health status 1. During the last 30 years, researchers have shown great interest in the phenomena of social support, particularly in the context of health.