Support Networks of Immigrants in Canada: A Multilevel Multinomial Analysis of Social Support

Abstract

This study examines the role of support networks in the integration process of Ghanaian immigrants to Canada. Although social support networks have been widely argued to shape the immigrants’ pre- and postmigration experience, their presence and roles are neither self-evident nor constant. Common conceptualizations of social support exchange often perceive support as unidirectional, flowing only from network members to immigrants. This underlies a rather linear notion of support networks among immigrants. Given this, this study investigates the directionality of support regarding emotional, instrumental, and informational support and the extent to which closeness, delineated as familial (kinship), perceived (importance of relationship), temporal (frequency of interaction), and geographic (location) influence these support exchanges. The study employs a multilevel multinomial analysis of 172 egocentric networks in Toronto, Canada, using a social network analysis approach. Results show that geographic closeness was consistently less important than kinship, temporal, and perceived closeness in both emotional, instrumental, and informational support—regardless of directionality. This broadly support the assertions about “death of distance” and that spatiality might no longer be a key influencer within the social support networks of immigrants.