Uses of the dependency grid for investigating social support in stressful situations

Abstract The Dependency Grid may be useful in measuring social support in stressful situations. We compared 14 hypertensive patients to a matched control set of normals, the samples being restricted to men with a mean age of 42–43 years. The potential that the Dependency Grid and its many possible variants have for investigating social support systems was demonstrated and, although the samples were small, enough differences between hypertensive and normals were revealed to warrant its further development.