Assessing change in social support during late life

The purpose of this study is to evaluate change in 14 measures of social su pport with data provided by a nationwide longitudinal study of older adults . The findings reveal that fairly substantial change took place during the three-year follow-up period. More important, the data indicate that change is not uniform or systematic across the entire study sample. Instead, there appears to be considerable individual-level change taking place. The impli cations of these findings for the development of conceptual models as well as support-based interventions are discussed.