Knowra Social support Social support Social support is assistance or care provided through relationships, including emotional, practical, and informational help. It can come from individuals, groups, or institutions.
Emotional support : Care expressed through empathy, reassurance, acceptance, and attentive listening. It captures the comfort and validation that relationships can provide.
Stress buffering hypothesis : The hypothesis that social support weakens the harmful effects of stress, especially during demanding events. It explains how support can matter most when stress is high.
Social support and health : The study of associations between social relationships, received help, and physical or mental health outcomes. It examines when support is linked to better health and through which pathways.
Social relationships and mortality risk : Research on associations between social connection and the likelihood of death over time. Studies link social relationships with survival, though association does not establish a single cause.
Alameda County Study : A longitudinal study of health and mortality among adults in Alameda County, California, begun in 1965. Its findings helped establish social relationships as a subject of population-health research.
Instrumental support : Tangible assistance, such as money, transportation, caregiving, or help with daily tasks. It names the practical help that social ties can supply.
Coping : Cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage demands appraised as stressful or exceeding one’s resources. Support can expand the strategies and resources available for managing stress.
Peer support : Help and encouragement exchanged by people with shared experiences or circumstances. Shared experience can make support especially credible in recovery and chronic illness.
Social integration : The extent to which a person participates in social relationships and groups. Integration describes network connection, which can provide access to support.
Social support and the buffering hypothesis : A 1985 review by Sheldon Cohen and Thomas A. Wills distinguishing stress-buffering from direct-effect models. It clarified competing explanations for links between support and well-being.
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