The seeking of social support from same- and cross-sex friends

Abstract

Many studies have been conducted on the process of social support. However, very few of have focused on the seeking of that support. This paper utilized uncertainty reduction theory and facework in an investigation of who people turn to for social support and how it is obtained. Comparisons were made between men and women and between same- and cross-sex friends on the level of relational certainty, expectations for specific types of social support, the directness and amount of facework in support. The results suggests that men and women may be more alike than different. No gender differences were found and only one difference was found between same- and cross-sex friends. Specifically, a supplementary analysis using a subscale of the relational certainty measure revealed that same-sex friends are higher in general relational certain than cross-sex friends, but this difference did not emerge when same- and cross-sex friends were compared on certainty regarding the likelihood of receiving the needed social support. The results also suggest that relational characteristics such as the level of relational certainty play a role in determining who people are likely to seek out for social support and the messages they use to acquire the desired support.