SOCIAL SUPPORT: THEORY, MEASUREMENTS, AND FINDINGS

Abstract

One of the more utilized concepts in the current research of health/illness related phenomena is that of “social support”.
Corning from social Sciences tradition, this notion has concentrated increasing interest because its postulated role as a
health protector of people coping to critical life episodes such as those caused by high-level stress events. The surprising amount of studies utilizing social support as a predictor of different outcomes related to health/illness has generated a number of distinct theoretical conceptualizations and measurement instruments. This is the direct cause of a large heterogeneity in the appropriate utilization of the notion and specially in their operational expressions. This paper is aimed to present the current scientific status of social support research by defining its main theoretical dimensions, introducing the major measurement procedures and by coding their main empirical findings.