Gender, social support, and experiential similarity during chronic stress: the case of family caregivers

Abstract

In the present chapter, we use data from two studies of family caregivers to elderly relatives to investigate whether stressful circumstances interact with experiential similarity to produce gender similarity in patterns of support. Taken together, the set of findings demonstrate that gender is important in explaining patterns of support among family caregivers to the elderly. First, women reported a substantially larger number of associates from whom they received general emotional social support than did men; however, there were no important gender differences in the number of associates who provided emotional or instrumental support specific to caregiving. Second, both quantitative and qualitative analysis revealed that experiential similarity was much less important in explaining men's than women's patterns of support. We suggest that these findings are consistent with the argument that experiential similarity is most important following status transitions when the transition is salient to the individual.

Citation

Jill Suitor, J. and Pillemer, K. (2002), "Gender, social support, and experiential similarity during chronic stress: the case of family caregivers", Levy, J.A. and Pescosolido, B.A. (Ed.) Social Networks and Health (Advances in Medical Sociology, Vol. 8), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 247-266. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1057-6290(02)80029-8