Social Support

The concept of social support was first proposed by Caplan (1974). It refers to the reliance between individuals or between individuals and groups. Hobfoll (2002) suggested that social support provides individuals with actual assistance through social relationships, emphasizing that individuals have a sense of belonging to important social groups and believe that they are being loved and cared. Tolsdorf (1976) defined social support as the provision of a certain form of behavior or action for purposes of the persons concerned or for the needs of a certain context. Lin et al. (1986) defined social support as the relevant factors or powers that can help individuals to survive in a social environment. Moreover, it is also the assistance from social networks, close partners, and friends in the social groups perceived by individuals to obtain emotional responses. The support for actual life and emotional support are both very important. Social support is regarded asapressurebufferto reduceindividualpressurethrough otherpeople’ssupport or interactions with social networks (Glynn et al., 1999; Antonovsky, 1974). Cohen and

Lakey (2006) indicated that the functions of social support are to enhance pressure-coping performance through the supportive actions of others, and obtain supportive recognition and assessment to reduce individuals’ negative explanations about stressful events, further reducing the stressful effects caused by negative evaluations. Caplan (1974) argued thatsocialsupportisan individual’sformalorinformalobtainmentofemotional, perceptional, and material support from a certain member, group, or environment, and this support enables the individual to feel that he/she can rely on someone or a group to overcome difficulties and stress. Cobb (1976) suggested that social support is an individual’sobtainmentofamessage,which makeshim/her feel that he/she belongs to a certain group and is cared about. Norbeck et al. (1981) indicated that social support is composed of various aspects, and is individuals’subjectivefeeling ofbeing supported.

Individuals can obtain love and care from families, friends, and significant others, as well as their recognition and approval for their behaviors or values through interpersonal exchanges. Moreover, the y will provide others with symbolic or substantial assistance.

Individuals can obtain assistance from interpersonal networks or social support (Colvin et al., 2002).

Shumaker and Brownell (1984) suggested that social support has both direct and buffering effects. The direct effects come from meeting an individual’sneedsfora sense of security, social contact and a sense of belonging, and further maintaining an individual’sself-value and esteem to directly increase health and the sense of happiness.

The buffering effects come from providing the information and resources required for coping with pressure. In other words, social support does not directly affect pressure or health, but it mitigates the relationship between them. In terms of the direct effects, Sarason et al. (1983)found thatteachers’supportforstudentshasadirectinfluence on the students’satisfaction with schools.Individuals’achievements vary with social support as well. Swindle (1983) indicated that if individuals can obtain more social support, there

will be fewer physical and psychological factors affecting their lives. Therefore, social support is deemed to have buffering effects.

There is a wide range of the origins of social support, such as families, teachers, friends or classmates. Individuals may deal with life incidents more flexibly and maintain a better physical and psychological status by using the support to reduce the overreaction to pressure events (Swindle, 1983). When individuals are satisfied with the social support, they may develop a specific sense of belonging and a sense of security (Thoits, 1985). On the contrary, when individuals are dissatisfied with the social support, they may easily encounter troubles and may even fall into crises. Social support is the possibility to obtain assistance relationships and quality of assistance relationships (Leavy, 1983). As individuals encounter difficulties in a new environment, obtaining assistance from other people is beneficial to the adaptation to the new environment (Tsang, 2001). Kahn and Quinn (1976) indicated that there are three forms of social support, namely aid, affection, and affirmation. The social support from aid is the provision of relevant information and assistance in emergencies. The social support from affection is the provision of emotional support based on the relationship between the support providers and the support seekers.

The social support from affirmation is the support providers’ belief in the support seekers’ability and faith to dealwith pressureand theprovision ofaffirmation (Kraimer et al., 2001). Copland et al. (1975) pointed out thatindividuals’originsofsocialsupport include organizations, colleagues, supervisors, and friends. Among those, organizations, supervisors and families are the main social support providers for overseas staff (Aycan, 1997). Henderson et al. (1994) indicated that the performance of children whose parents frequently interact with schools is usually better. The time that parents spend on their children’seducation also hasan importanteffect on thechildren’slearning attitude,and it certainly affects their academic performance. Based on the above, the origins of social support are the generalized social network as well as the significant others in the

individual aspect. Various supports can be provided for individuals at different levels.

Cassel (1976) suggested that the social support from primary groups includes families, relatives, and friends. Moreover, these origins of social support are crucial to an individual.

Socialsupportcan meetindividuals’substantialneedsand provide them with energy and resources. Therefore, it is regarded as the key resource in the context of pressure (Hobfoll

& Shirom, 2000). However, the definitions concerning the content included in social support are inconsistent. Therefore, the aspects of social support are usually analyzed and explained through different methods (e.g. emotional and substantial support), different origins (e.g. spouse, families and friends), different aspects, and different forms. As the main purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of social support on university students’academicachievements,thisstudy probed into thethreemain originsofsocial support for university students, namely, families and relatives, teachers, and classmates.