Perceptions of Social Support in Men with AIDS and ARC: Relationships with Distress and Hardiness1

Abstract

Previous research has suggested that social support may act as a buffer against stress or in other ways may affect physiological adjustment, health, longevity, and sense of well‐being. Perceptions of social support in persons newly diagnosed with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and AIDS‐related Complex (ARC) were examined as a part of an ongoing longitudinal study. Social support was examined in terms of emotionally‐sustaining and problem‐solving types of help, based on Gottlieb's content analysis of informal helping behaviors. Representative examples of each of the four major categories of help were assessed in terms of their perceived desirability, availability, frequency of use, and usefulness if used. These social support data were then examined in relation to other behavioral, cognitive, affective, and medical indices.For persons with AIDS only, increased physical distress was associated with perceiving less availability of support. For both persons with AIDS and ARC, the more available social support was perceived to be, the less hopelessness and depression were reported. While all types of help were rated as desirable by both persons with AIDS and ARC, emotionally‐sustaining types of help were rated as more desirable, more available, more frequently used, and more useful when used than were problem‐solving types of help. Social support measures were most consistently and strongly correlated with the Commitment subscale of Kobasa's Hardiness Scale.