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Affiliative Need, Different Types of Social Support, and Physical Symptoms 1
Author(s) -
Hill Craig A.,
Christensen Alan J.
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.tb01453.x
Subject(s) - psychology , social support , interpersonal relationship , interpersonal communication , social psychology , social relationship , emotional support , developmental psychology , social relation , interpersonal interaction
Less tangible types of social support (emotional, informational, and companionship) were shown to predict reports of physical symptoms as a joint function of both affiliative need and negative life events, while the effects of tangible support depended only upon the occurrence of negative life events (the prototypical buffering effect). Low affiliative need individuals tended to benefit from both types of support, while high affiliative need individuals benefited primarily from more tangible support. The results were discussed in terms of the proposal that low affiliative need individuals hold a more problem‐focused view of social support, while high affiliative need individuals tend to take a less personally instrumental stance toward interpersonal interaction.