Social Networks and Support Health Outcomes

Although social network was considered as interchangeable with social support from the social integration perspective, social network and social support are two distinct constructs from the psychological and supportive communication perspectives. Social networks create a relational environment and serve as generating mechanisms for the emergence of social support, including perceptions about the availability of support when it is needed, perceptions about how much support has been received, and the types and quality of supportive messages communicated with others. Research studies have provided evidence about the associations between structural network properties and support outcomes, and indicated which patterns of social relationships and which positions in a social network facilitate or hinder the formation of perceived social support and communication of supportive messages. Recent works have also extended the testing of theoretical frameworks that argue social support as a process through which social network structures influence physical and mental health outcomes among people. Future research should further integrate the supportive communication perspective into the examination of social network and support health outcomes.