The social support and health relationship: Is there a gender difference?

Social support has generally been found to have a positive effect on health outcomes. Recently, however, it has been suggested that the existence of these benefits is dependent on the source of support and the gender of the individual receiving the support. Specifically, it has been argued that employed males benefit from work‐based sources of support while employed females rely on family or non‐work sources. The present study tests this proposition while controlling for variables which may be confounded with gender in the workforce. Several health and satisfaction variables are investigated. The relationship between gender and amount of social support from various sources is also explored. Findings suggest ( a ) that social support does have various beneficial effects on health outcomes, ( b ) that gender has little bearing on the amount of support received, and ( c ) there are few gender differences in the effects of social support on health. Those differences that were found were in the opposite direction of what was expected.