Key result
Providing passive social support resulted in larger decreases in blood pressure and heart rate compared to providing active support, regardless of whether the receiver was a friend or stranger.
Why the study?
Does providing passive versus active social support improve blood pressure and heart rate responses in individuals providing support?
Does providing passive versus active social support improve blood pressure and heart rate responses in individuals providing support?
Providing passive social support yields greater acute physiological benefits (decreased blood pressure and heart rate) for the provider than active support, regardless of their relationship to the receiver.
Passive support may lower provider cardiovascular reactivity; leaves open intimacy effects and needs replication before practice implications.
OBJECTIVE: Recent research has pointed to the cardiovascular benefits of providing social support to others in times of stress; however, little is known about what factors influence such benefits. DESIGN AND MEASURES: In a between-groups design, we investigated the possible interaction between intimacy (friend vs. stranger) and support type (active vs. passive) in determining the cardiovascular responses of support providers. Eighty participants had their blood pressure and heart rate monitored while providing either active or passive social support to a friend or a stranger who completed a stress task. RESULTS: Although there was no interaction effect, a significant main effect showed that those who provided passive support showed larger decreases relative to those in the active support condition. There was no effect of intimacy. Further, these effects withstood adjustment for a number of potential confounds (e.g. sex and body mass index). CONCLUSION: It appears that the greatest physiological benefit for social support providers may come from providing passive, rather than active support, regardless of whether the support receiver is a friend or a stranger.
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Gallagher et al. (2015) studied this question. Passive social support vs. Active social support was evaluated on Cardiovascular responses (blood pressure and heart rate). Providing passive social support resulted in larger decreases in blood pressure and heart rate compared to providing active support, regardless of whether the receiver was a friend or stranger.
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