Social Support and Social Networks as Determinants of Individual and Marital Outcomes

Abstract

This study examined the effects of social support, within and outside marriage, on the individual and marital adjustment of eighty-seven married couples. Stress, functional and structural measures of spouses' supportive networks, and outcome variables were included in two models that were represented as path diagrams and tested for husbands and wives, respectively. As predicted, marital distress was associated with higher mobilization of outsiders for support, but outsiders mediated rather than counteracted the negative effects of marital distress on spouses' health. Contrary to expectations, husbands' mobilization of their wives' support was positively associated with their levels of symptoms, and compared to wives, husbands' mobilization of their partners' help was more weakly associated with their marital adjustment. Results are discussed with respect to models of the interaction between spouses' and outsiders' support.