Physical and emotional well-being and the balance of needed and received emotional support: Age differences in a daily diary study

Abstract

a b s t r a c tWhether received social support matches the actual needs of the recipient is a largely overlooked aspect in research on associations of support and well-being. In particular, studies that investigate the match of needed and received support from a within-person perspective are rare. Therefore, we investigated the daily within-person relationship of well-being and the balance of needed and received social support in a German Sample of 79 younger (23e34 years) and 88 older adults (68e83 years). Health complaints and negative affect were predicted with linear effects of received and needed emotional support and quadratic effects of the balance (i.e., difference) of these two aspects using multilevel modeling of selfreports over 20 days. The predicted beneficial association between a match of needed and received support (i.e., a support balance) and well-being was observed among younger adults. Needed support was associated with more health complaints and negative affect on the same day. The match of needed and received support is important for well-being, particularly in younger adults. Future research should account for support needed in research on received support and shed more light into the processes underlying these short-term within-person relationships of social support and well-being.

Well-Being in Elite Sport: Dimensions of Hedonic and Eudaimonic Well-Being Among Elite Orienteers

“…These findings are in line with previous research, in which social support from the coach has been perceived as particularly important for athletes' well-being (Clement & Shannon, 2011). Whereas the athletes described characteristics about the coach, satisfaction with the relationship will also be a result of a complex process including both various dimensions of actual support provided as well as the athlete's perception of the support received (Udry, 1997, Wolff et al, 2013. Thus, both the coach's and the athlete's social skills and ability to build a trusting, close and functional relationship will likely impact both the satisfaction with the support and the cooperation in the relationship.…”

“…The importance of support closely matched to the needs of the person has previously been reported in studies of well-being and stress (Wolff, Schmiedek, Brose, & Lindenberger, 2013). Thus, it seems likely that functional, stable and close relationships generally provide increased possibilities to communicate and also detect implied needs for support and caring.…”

Good Intentions, Bad Outcomes: The Effects of Mismatches between Social Support and Health Outcomes in an Online Weight Loss Community

“…In fact, there is evidence suggesting that the beneficial effects of social support depend on the type and amount of support needed, and the extent to which provided support matches those needs (Cutrona et al 2007). Because the match between the level of support needed and the level of support provided remains largely unexplored (Wolff et al 2013), the effectiveness of supportive activities in online weight-loss communities is far from obvious.…”

Physicians in the USA: Attendance, Beliefs and Patient Interactions

“…This is a pertinent topic, as it is clear that social support is an essential dimension of health (Wolff et al 2013), as it is tied to both physical health (Cohen 1988;House et al 1988;Seeman 2001;Uchino 2006;Uchino et al 1996) and mental health (Atienza et al 2001;Fiala et al 2002;Karademas 2006;Murrell et al 1992). It has also been persuasively argued that religious networks or associations play a very important role in anticipated social support (Edgell et al 2013), and religious communities have previously been highlighted as important sources of social support (Ellison et al 2009;Krause 2006).…”