Social support isbroadly defined as “a flow of emotional concern, instrumental aid, information, and/or appraisal between people” (House, 1981, p. 26). It is a group of resources gained through social relationships that leads to a feeling of well-being (Harber et al., 2007) and feeling cared for (Cobb, 1976). Social support can also serve as a buffer against adverse outcomes (Cassel, 1974; Kerr & King, 2013). The concept of social support originally emerged from the health field, as a way to explain differences in health outcomes between those who were connected to others and those who were not
Social support definitions