The Contextual Impact of Social Support Across Race and Gender

Over the past 2 decades, the interrelationship among the concepts of social support, stress, and psycho-physiological well-being has undergone much scrutiny in the professional literature. More recently, the many challenges posed by the reality of this country's increasingly diversified workplace have received attention by both social work practitioners and researchers alike. The area that remains largely unstudied is the intersection of these two fields of study. The research reported here specifically addresses the question: What do we know about social support that can be used to effectively facilitate workplace diversity? The central focus of this article explores the relationship between social support and stress as differentially experienced by African American women, White women, and White men both within and outside the workplace. Of particular interest is the relationship between the social support and well-being in these contexts. Based on the findings of a 3-year study, this article reports on research conducted with a larger study of health promotion and stress and begins with an exploration of types and sources of social support and stress as they relate to issues of gender, race, and context. The article continues with a description of the research methodology. A