|
Social Conflict
Measures of social conflict (i.e., interpersonal
stress, negative support, social undermining or criticism)
are typically associated with poor mental health, raising
questions about the extent to which social conflict and perceived
support reflect different constructs, i.e., are independently
linked to mental health (Finch,
Okun, Pool, & Ruehlman, 1999
xClose
Finch, J. F., Okun, M. A., Pool, G. J., & Ruehlman L. S. (1999).
Comparison of the influence of conflictual and supportive
social interactions on psychological distress. Journal
of Personality, 67, 581-621.; Okun
& Lockwood, 2003
xClose
Okun, M. A., & Lockwood, C. M. (2003). Does level of assessment
moderate the relation between social support and social negativity?:
A meta-analysis. Basic and Applied Social Psychology,
25, 15-35.). The extent to which social conflict
and perceived support are partially redundant appears to depend
on measurement procedures. For example, when participants
rate spouses, the two constructs appear to be less distinct;
when participants rate their social networks more generally,
the two constructs appear to be independent (Okun
& Lockwood, 2003
xClose
Okun, M. A., & Lockwood, C. M. (2003). Does level of assessment
moderate the relation between social support and social negativity?:
A meta-analysis. Basic and Applied Social Psychology,
25, 15-35.).
Adult Attachment
Research on adult attachment style has grown quickly in recent
years, and measures of attachment style are
related to many of the same mental health variables as is
perceived support (Rholes
& Simpson, 2004
xClose
Rholes, W. S., & Simpson, J. A. (2004). Adult attachment:
theory, research and clinical implications. New York:
Guilford.). Theoretically, there is substantial overlap
between the concepts of secure attachment and social support,
as most descriptions of secure attachment, especially the
construct of "internal working models of others," name social
support as a defining characteristic (Collins
& Feeney, 2004
xClose
Collins, N. L., & Feeney, B. C. (2004). Working models of
attachment shape perceptions of social support: evidence from
experimental and observational studies. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 87, 363-383.). Although
there is not an extensive literature on the relation between
social support and attachment, what is available suggests
the two constructs are linked in important ways (Collins
and Feeney, 2004
xClose
Collins, N. L., & Feeney, B. C. (2004). Working models of
attachment shape perceptions of social support: evidence from
experimental and observational studies. Journal of Personality
and Social Psychology, 87, 363-383.). Future research
will need to outline the extent to which attachment and social
support effects are redundant.
Relationship Satisfaction and Intimacy
Much less work has been conducted on the extent to which social
support is redundant with the constructs of relationship
satisfaction and intimacy, especially regarding marriage.
Yet, it is hard to imagine an important relationship that
was perceived as satisfying and intimate but not supportive.
Social support theories hypothesize that social support involves
a specific type of social interaction, and therefore it is
important to show that such interactions make a contribution
to health that goes beyond generic relationship satisfaction
and intimacy. Preliminary work suggests that the two constructs
are closely linked (Kaul
& Lakey, 2003
xClose
Kaul, M. & Lakey, B. (2003). Where is the support in perceived
support? The role of generic relationship satisfaction and
enacted support in perceived support's relation to low distress.
Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 22, 59-78.;
Reis
& Franks, 1994
xClose
Reis, H. T., & Franks, P. (1994). The role of intimacy and
social support in health outcomes: Two processes or one? Personal
Relationships, 1, 185-197.), but additional studies
are needed.
|
