Social support and emotional adjustment during and after a severe life event: A study of wives of myocardial infarction patients

This paper examines the relationship between quantitative and qualitative i ndicators of social support and anxiety, depression and use of health servi ces in a sample of 37 wives of myocardial infarction (MI) patients. In a pr ospective design, the wives were interviewed during the acute phase of the illness, three months and 10 years post index-MI. Congruent with previous r esearch, the quantitative aspect of social support, defined as number of pe rsons giving help, was unrelated to adjustment, whereas qualitative aspect of social support, defined as the wives' dissatisfaction with social suppor t, was associated with depression and use of health services. The observed association indicated, however, an effect in the opposite direction of the social support model. The findings were unexpected and may be due to a smal l sample. An alternative explanation is that long-term relationship between depression and social support is more complex, and more long-term studies are needed in this field.