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Can Social Supports Be Engineered? An Example from the Army's Unit Manning System 1
Author(s) -
Rosen Leora N.,
Moghadam Linda Z.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1989.tb01251.x
Subject(s) - officer , psychology , social psychology , wife , perception , social support , path analysis (statistics) , unit (ring theory) , coping (psychology) , software deployment , clinical psychology , political science , engineering , statistics , mathematics , law , mathematics education , software engineering , neuroscience
The purpose of the study was to examine variables which lead to the perception of instrumental social support among military wives. More specifically, we were interested in two factors: (a) the Unit Manning System, a method of deployment which keeps groups of soldiers and their families together for long periods of time; and (b) husbands' ranks. Both factors were found to be significant predictors of support in a previous study. Using a path analytic model, we demonstrated that being an officer's wife was related to perceived social support only indirectly through its influence on degree of participation in wives' group activities. Participation in the Unit Manning System also had only an indirect influence on social support. Reasons for these findings are discussed with reference to theories about coping and coping assistance.