Social support in a changing Europe: An analysis of three post-Communist nations

Despite the continuing interest in social transitions among social scientis ts, there has been little analysis of the impact of societal change on pers onal relationships. One important factor in helping individuals deal with t he stresses associated with rapid transitions is social support. In our fir st study, 450 manual workers, students and entrepreneurs in Russia, Georgia and Hungary, completed structured questionnaires assessing demographic and value predictors of the perception of support availability and the support they obtained to deal with changes in their societies. In our second study , the same respondents participated in semi-structured interviews investiga ting the relationship between their work lives and support networks. Our fi ndings demonstrate the importance of culture, occupation and values for bot h the perception and reception of support, and underline the multifaceted m anner in which different work experiences in different nations influence su pport networks. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.