YOUTHFUL PRECURSORS OF MIDLIFE SOCIAL SUPPORT

Measures of family stability, sociocultural background, and emotional ties to parents in medical students (N = 589, mean age = 22 years) pre dicted their social support measures, assessed 23 to 39 years later (m ean age = 56 years). Father's education and family's involvement in ch urch were positively associated with group participation (number of gr oup memberships), whereas parental loss between the ages of 11 and 20 was negatively associated with group participation: perceived emotiona l closeness to parents was positively associated with racial closeness (number of close contacts providing emotional and instrumental suppor t). Thus, group participation and social closeness were influenced by distinctly different childhood factors.