Social networks as coping resources

Abstract

This study forms part of a larger sociological study made with the help of a grant from the Social Science Research Council in 1970–1972 into ways in which families coped with the crisis presented by husbands' myocardial infarction. (A parallel study by McEwen deals with the men themselves.) Part of the purpose was to examine differences between families in relation to differences in outcome of the illness twelve months later. Outcome was classified as: "A" (favourable) in families where the man was working and his wife defined the illness as over; "B" (intermediate) in families where, although the man was working, the wife did not define the illness as over; and "C" (unfavourable) in families where the man was not working. In the section of the study presented here the persons perceived by wives as helpers and lay consultants at the crisis and in the aftermath were identified and the categories of network which they represented were analysed. Not unexpectedly, differences associated with social class were found. However, differences also appeared to be associated with the outcome of the illness for both nonmanual and manual families considered separately: families where wives acknowledged fewer sources of network support, and where such sources were predominantly restricted to families of origin of either or both spouses, tended to experience less favourable outcomes (i.e. "B", and especially "C", as defined above). Perceptions of support at the crisis had sometimes proved unrealistic in the aftermath. Nearly one in four women, while acknowledging practical help, felt that they lacked lay consultants and this often appeared associated with unfavourable outcome. Adult children as a source of sustained help and, more unusually, as lay consultants seemed to be particularly valuable for wives of manual workers, sometimes compensating for difficulties experienced in consulting husbands. It is suggested that professional workers concerned with the coping resources available to families may find it useful to check the presence or absence of perceived support from each of the categories used in this study (children, wife's kin, husband's kin, non-kin, spouse). By indicating the total range and type of support, this might help to reveal deficiencies pointing to a need for compensatory intervention.