Relationships between aid, affective and affirmative social support; and sense of coherence in older adults

Abstract

This study described the relationship b~tween three types of functional social support (affective, affirmative, and aid) and perceived wellness in older adults. It also examined whether functional measures of social support were more highly correlated with wellness than- structural measures. Fifty eight older adults (mean age 70.3, SO 5.7, range 60-86) were recruited at community seniot citizen sites in a southern metropolitan area. The questionnaire data obtained from the Norbeck Social Support Scale (Norbeck, Lindsey, & Carrieri, 1981) and the Sense of Coherence (SOC) Scale·(Antonovsky, 1987) was analyzed using Pearson product-moment-correlation. Results show significant correlations (p < .001) between sense of coherence and three types of functional support (affective r = .4629, affirmative, r = .5095, and aid r = .4522) A test for differences between dependent correlations ·shows stronger correlations of total functional social_ support with SQ.C ~han the correlation of tot~l structural social support with SOC (t = 2.58, df= 55, p ·.< .025~.· The results suggest functional social support is related to .wellness in older persons and demonstrate th~ utility of measuring . functional as well.as structural social suPP<>rt.