Personal Relationships and Social Support

Book excerpt: It is widely acknowledged that the support given by friends, intimates andother members of a social network is important to a person's well-being. Until recently, however, little attention has been paid to the relational processes and contexts through which social support is mediated. Personal Relationships and Social Support represents a major initiative in its focus upon social support as a phenomenon embedded in the everyday transactions and dynamics of people's interpersonal relationships. The authors consider such issues as the importance of the day-to-day talk' of social support within interpersonal relationships, the strategies that people use to mobilize support within particular relational contexts and the impact of people's daily life and work patterns on the need for, and ability to mobilize, support. The effect, in turn, of competence in support giving on the development and maintenance of interpersonal relationships is examined as are the possible negative consequences of particular kinds of support. Personal Relationships and Social Support brings together for the first time two strands of work, on social support and the nature of interpersonal relationships, which have tended to develop in isolation from each other. This path-breaking book will be essential reading for all those interested in new developments in theory and research in the field of human relationships.