Interactive Effect of Support From Family and Friends in Visually Impaired Elders

The interactive relationship of high and low friend and family support for adaptation to chronic vision impairment was examined in 241 men and women. Two 2 (High/Low Family Support) x 2 (High/Low Friend Support) x 2 (Gender) multivariate analyses of covariance tested for psychological well-being, one with qualitative support measures, the other with quantitative support measures. Two analyses of covariance models tested for adaptation to vision loss. A significant multivariate 3-way interaction effect for qualitative support was found. Women with high support from both friends and family had better psychological well-being, whereas men with high support from both friends and family or just from family had better psychological well-being. Two univariate main effects showed that participants with high qualitative friend support and high quantitative family support had better adaptation to vision loss. Findings demonstrate the complexity of measuring and understanding relationships among social support, well-being, and domain-specific adaptation to chronic impairment.