Family and Nonfamily Components of Social Support as Buffers of Stress for College Women1

Abstract

Two samples of college women (N= 273 and N= 99) were administered a stress inventory, a social support scale, and the Hopkins Symptom Checklist. Separate measures of family and nonfamily social support were obtained as well as separate measures of types of social support: social availability, tangible support, information/guidance, and emotional support. With the total symptom score used as the dependent variable, nonfamily social support showed a clear buffering effect on life stress in both samples, whereas family social support showed significant buffering only in Sample 2. Multiple regression analyses indicated that nonfamily emotional support was more effective as a buffer than family social support in both samples. There were no clear differences among the types of social support in their buffering effectiveness All four symptom subscales showed buffering trends, but depression was the only subscale that was significantly buffered in both samples by nonfamily social support. The greater effectiveness of nonfamily social support as a buffer of stress is discussed in terms of the possible greater availablity, both physically and psychologically, of nonfamily friends for late adolescent and young adult women.