Seeking social support in marital relationship

: the role of communication styles and age

Abstract

The crucial role of social support in social relationships and psychological well-being has been well-documented. Given the interactive nature of social support process, however, little is researched about the antecedents and consequences of using different support-seeking strategies. The thesis investigated the relationship of communication styles (explicit and implicit), support-seeking strategies (direct and indirect), and social exchanges (positive and negative) in marriage. The thesis also explored the partner effects in seeking social support. On top of that, the age differences of these factors were also examined. One hundred pairs of younger (22-40 years old) and 104 older couples (55-90 years old) participated in the study. Older adults reported higher endorsement of both explicit and implicit communication styles than younger adults. Older adults also reported using more direct support-seeking strategy and less indirect support-seeking strategy as compared to younger couples. Explicit communication and implicit communication styles partially mediated the age differences in direct and indirect support-seeking strategies respectively. For both age groups, seeking support directly was more beneficial than indirect support-seeking effort in terms of increasing positive exchange and reducing negative exchange. Whereas older couple were had a stronger negative relationship of actor's indirect support-seeking and perceived positive exchange, younger adults were more affected by the reduction of actor's direct support-seeking and increase in partner's indirect support-seeking for perceived negative exchange. Future direction and implications of the study were discussed.

Date of Award	4 Oct 2010
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	City University of Hong Kong
Supervisor	Sheung Tak CHENG (Supervisor) & Man Hung Raymond NGAN (Supervisor)