social network support

7/31/2019 Social Network Support

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Social Network Support

Social support is the perception and actuality that one is cared for, has

assistance available from other people, and that one is part of a supportive social

network. These supportive resources can be emotional (e.g., nurturance), tangible (e.g.,financial assistance), informational (e.g., advice), or companionship (e.g., sense of

belonging). 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,

organizations, coworkers, etc.

Social support is studied across a wide range of disciplines

including psychology, medicine, sociology, nursing, public health, and social work.Social support has been linked to many benefits for both physical and mental health, but

social support is not always beneficial.

Two main models have been proposed to describe the link between social support and

health: the buffering hypothesis and the direct effects

hypothesis.[1]

Genderand cultural differences in social support have also been found.

Categories and Definition

Distinctions in Measurement

Social support can be categorized and measured in several different ways.

There are four common functions of social support Emotional supportis the offering of

empathy, concern, affection, love, trust, acceptance, intimacy, encouragement, or

caring. It is the warmth and nurturance provided by sources of social support. Providing

emotional support can let the individual know that he or she is valued.[ It is also

sometimes called esteem support or appraisal support. Tangible supportis the provision

of financial assistance, material goods, or services. Also called instrumental support,

this form of social support encompasses the concrete, direct ways people assist others.[

Informational supportis the provision of advice, guidance, suggestions, or useful

information to someone. This type of information has the potential to help others
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problem-solve. Companionship supportis the type of support that gives someone a

sense of social belonging (and is also called belonging) . This can be seen as the

presence of companions to engage in shared social activities with

Researchers also commonly make a distinction between perceived and received

support. Perceived supportrefers to a recipients subjective judgment that providers will

offer (or have offered) effective help during times of need. Received support(also called

enacted support) refers to specific supportive actions (e.g., advice or reassurance)

offered by providers during times of need.

Furthermore, social support can be measured in terms of structural support or functional

support. Structural support(also called social integration) refers to the extent to which a

recipient is connected within a social network, like the number of social ties or how

integrated a person is within his or her social network Family relationships, friends, and

membership in clubs and organizations contribute to social integration. Functional

supportlooks at the specific functions that members in this social network can provide,

such as the emotional, instrumental, informational, and companionship support listed

above.

These different types of social support have different patterns of correlations

with health, personality, and personal relationships. For example, perceived support is

consistently linked to better mental health whereas received support and social

integration are not. Some have suggested that invisible support, a form of support

where the person has support without his or her awareness, may be the most beneficial.

Benefits

Mental Health

In stressful times, social support helps people reduce psychological distress (e.g.,

anxiety or depression). Social support has been found to promote psychological

adjustment in conditions with chronic high stress like HIV, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer,

stroke, and coronary artery disease. People with low social support report more sub-

clinical symptoms ofdepression and anxiety than do people with high social support. In

addition, people with low social support have higher rates ofmajor mental disorderthan

those with high support. These include post traumatic stress disorder, panic
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disorder, social phobia, major depressive disorder, dysthymic disorder, and eating

disorders. Among people with schizophrenia, those with low social support have more

symptoms of the disorder. In addition, people with low support have more suicidal

ideation, and more alcohol and drug problems. Similar results have been found among

children.

Physical Health

Social support has numerous ties to physical health, including mortality. People with low

social support are at a much higher risk of death from a variety of diseases (e.g.,

cancer, cardiovascular disease). Numerous studies have shown that people with higher

social support have an increased likelihood for survival.

Individuals with lower levels of social support have: more cardiovascular disease,

more inflammation and less effective immune system functioning, more complications

during pregnancy, and more functional disability and pain associated with rheumatoid

arthritis, among many other findings. Conversely, higher rates of social support have

been associated with numerous positive outcomes, including faster recovery from

coronary artery surgery, less susceptibility to herpes attacks, a lowered likelihood to

show age-related cognitive decline, and betterdiabetes control. People with higher

social support are also less likely to develop colds and are able to recover faster if they

are ill from a cold.

Costs

Although there are many benefits to social support, it is not always beneficial. It has

been proposed that in order for social support to be beneficial, the social support

desired by the provider has to match the support given to him or her; this is known as

the matching hypothesis. Psychological stress may increase if a different type of

support is provided than what the recipient wishes to receive (e.g., informational is given

when emotional support is sought).

Other costs have been associated with social support. For example, received support

has not been linked consistently to either physical or mental health; if anything, received
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support has surprisingly been linked to worse mental health. Additionally, if social

support is overly intrusive, it can increase stress.

Two Dominant Models

There are two dominant hypotheses addressing the link between social support and

health: the buffering hypothesis and the direct effects hypothesis. The main difference

between these two hypotheses is that the direct effects hypothesis predicts that social

support is beneficial all the time, while the buffering hypothesis predicts that social

support is mostly beneficial during stressful times. Evidence has been found for both

hypotheses.

In the buffering hypothesis, social support protects (or "buffers") people from the bad

effects of stressful life events (e.g., death of a spouse, job loss). Evidence for stress

buffering is found when the correlation between stressful events and poor health is

weaker for people with high social support than for people with low social support. The

weak correlation between stress and health for people with high social support is often

interpreted to mean that social support has protected people from stress. Stress

buffering is more likely to be observed for perceived support than for social

integration or received support.

In the direct effects (also called main effects) hypothesis, people with high social

support are in better health than people with low social support, regardless of stress In

addition to showing buffering effects, perceived support also shows consistent direct

effects for mental health outcomes. Both perceived support and social integration show

main effects for physical health outcomes. However, received (enacted) support rarely

shows main effects.
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Types of Family

Nuclear Family

The nuclear family orelementary family is a term used to define a family group

consisting of a pair of adults and their children. This is in contrast to a polygamous

family, single-parent family, and to the largerextended family. Nuclear families typically

center on a married couple, but not always; the nuclear family may have any number of

children. There are differences in definition among observers; some definitions allow

only biological children that are full-blood siblings, while others allow for a stepparent

and any mix of dependent children including stepchildren and adopted children.

Family structures of a single married couple and their children were present in Western

Europe and New England in the 17th century, influenced by church and theocratic

governments.[5]

With the emergence ofproto-industrialization and early capitalism, the

nuclear family became a financially viable social unit. The term nuclear familyfirst

appeared in the early twentieth century. Alternative definitions have evolved to include

family units headed by same-sex parents, and perhaps additional adult relatives who

take on a cohabiting parental role; in this later case it also receives the name

ofconjugal family.

The concept that a narrowly defined nuclear family is central to stability in modern

society has been promoted by modern social conservatives in the United States, and

has been challenged as historically and sociologically inadequate to describe the

complexity of actual family relations.

Single parent

A single parent usually refers to a parent who has most of the day to dayresponsibilities in the raising of the child or children, which would categorize them as the

dominant caregiver who is not living with a spouse or partner, or those who are not

married. The dominant caregiver is the parent in whom the children have residency with

the majority of the time; if the parents are separated or divorced children live with

theircustodial parent and have visitation with theirnoncustodial parent. In western
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society in general, following separation, a child will end up with the primary caregiver,

usually the mother, and a secondary caregiver, usually the father.

Historically death of a partner was a major cause of single parenting. Single parenting

can result from separation ordivorce of a couple with children. Custody battles,awarded by the court or rationalized in other terms, determine who the child will spend

majority of their time with, this affects children in many ways and there are many

suggestions to counsel them. A mother is typically the primary caregiverin a single

parent family structure as a result of divorce, unplanned pregnancy. Fathers have been

less commonly primary caregiverin the past, presumably due to assumptions that a

child from two separate parents is better off with the mother than the father, but this

scenario has shifted in recent years. Single parent adoption is sometimes an option for

adults who want children but do not have a partner.

The demographics of single parenting show a general increase worldwide in children

living in single parent homes. Single parenting has become an accepted norm in the

United States and is an accepted trend found in multiple other countries. Debates

concerning not only the single parents themselves, but also the children involved,

support for the families in single parent households, and more have arisen. Although

divorce is one of the main events that lead to single parenting, it may be that the

majority of cases (in the US) are from pregnancy outside of wedlock.

Extended Family

The term extended family has several distinct meanings. It consists of

grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. In some circumstances, the extended family

comes to live either with or in place of a member of the nuclear family; a family that

includes in one household near relatives in addition to a nuclear family. An example

would be elderly parent who move in with their children due to old age. This places

large demands on the caregivers, particularly on the female relatives who choose to

perform these duties for their extended family. In modern Western cultures dominated

by nuclear family, it has come to be used generically to refer to grandparents, uncles,

aunts, and cousins, whether they live together within the same household or not.
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However, it may also refer to a family unit in which several generations live together

within a single household. In some cultures, the term is used synonymously

with consanguineous family.

In an extended family, parents and their children's families may often live under a singleroof. This type of joint family often includes multiple generations in the family. From

culture to culture, the variance of the term may have different meanings. For instance, in

India, the family is a patriarchal society, with the sons' families often staying in the same

house.

In the joint family set-up, the workload is shared among the members, often unequally.

The roles of women are often restricted to housewives and this usually involves

cooking, cleaning, and organizing for the entire family. The patriarch of the family (often

the oldest male member) lays down the rules and arbitrates disputes. Other senior

members of the household babysit infants in case their mother is working. They are also

responsible in teaching the younger children their mother tongue, manners, and

etiquette. Grandparents often take the leading roles due to the fact that they have the

most experience with parenting and maintaining a household.

Childless Family

A childless family is basically a group of people from all variety of backgrounds

and all walks of life who, for whatever reason, have never had children. Others will

perhaps have children at sometime in the future, but are not prepared just yet, and

some sought to have children but were unable to because of a variety of social and/or

biological forces that obstruct and result in unplanned childlessness. To replace

children, childless families usually have pets as a substitute.
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Reasons for Childlessness

Reasons for childlessness include, but are not limited to, the following.

Infertility, defined as the failure of a woman to achieve pregnancy or carry a child to

term, or of a man to cause pregnancy, is regarded as the most prominent reason for

involuntary childlessness. Other definitions include "the failure to conceive after

unprotected intercourse for (more than) one year or two years". Failure to conceive

a second or subsequent pregnancy is defined as secondary infertility. There are

many causes of infertility.

Main article:Infertility

Infant or child death.

medical or gynecological problems, including lack of maternal medical care and

damage during previous childbirth

Celibacy.

Lack of appropriate resources (financial, community, etc.).

environment

Lack of a partner or lack of willingness from partner.

Social infertility.

Personal choice, that is, voluntary childlessness.

Wanting to pursue educational goals.
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