Different Strokes from Different Folks: Community Ties and Social Support

TLDR

Community ties with friends and relatives are a principal means by which people and households obtain supportive resources. The study uses quantitative and qualitative data from the second East York study to evaluate why different types of ties provide different kinds of supportive resources. The authors assess six potential explanations—tie strength, contact, group processes, kinship, network members' characteristics, and similarities/dissimilarities between members—in this analysis. Most relationships provide specialized support, with the type of support largely linked to relationship characteristics rather than member traits; strong ties give emotional aid, small services, and companionship, parents and adult children exchange financial aid and services, physically accessible ties provide services, women provide emotional aid, and friends, neighbors, and siblings make up about half of all supportive relationships, together delivering stable and adaptive support.

Abstract

Community ties with friends and relatives are a principal means by which people and households get supportive resources. Quantitative and qualitative data from the second East York study are used to evaluate six potential explanations of why different types of ties provide different kinds of supportive resources: tie strength, contact, group processes, kinship,network members' characteristics, and similarities and dissimilarities between network members in such characteristics. Most relatioships provide specialized support. The kinds of support provided are related more to characteristics of the relationship than to characteristics of the network members themselves. Strong ties provide emotional aid, small services, and companionship. Parents and adult children exchange financial aid, emotional aid, large services, and small services. Physically accessible ties provide services. Women provide emotional aid. Friends, neighbors, and siblings make up about half of all supportive relationships. The ensemble of network members supplies stable and adaptive support.