Shelly L Gable, Courtney L Gosnell, Natalya C Maisel, Amy Strachman
Previous research has shown that receiving social support in the face of negative events (i.e., enacted support) is sometimes correlated with positive outcomes, sometimes unrelated to outcomes, and sometimes associated with negative outcomes. However, people's perception that they have high-quality support available to them when they have a stressor (i.e., perceived support) is consistently and strongly associated with better health, well-being, and relationship functioning. However, both enacted and perceived support available in response to positive event disclosures are consistently associated with positive outcomes...
December 2012: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology