Masters Theses

Date of Award

8-1986

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Nursing

Major Professor

Sandra P. Thomas

Committee Members

Sylvia Hart, John Jozwiak

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine and to compare the social support of middle-aged married professional couples. The 1U6 subjects (Caucasians, Asians, and Blacks) were dual-career couples 35 to 55 years of age. Each subject held the minimum of a baccalaureate degree and at least one of each couple was an educator. The subjects, whose participation was voluntary, resided either in Lexington, Kentucky or Knoxville, Tennessee.

The dependent variable was social support. Age, education, and marital status were controlled in the selection of subjects. The independent variables included gender, satisfaction with quality of social support, perception of spouses' major source of social support, health as a major concern, children as a major concern for couples with children, ethnic background, and amount of involvement in religious activities. The Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire and a demographic questionnaire developed by the researcher were administered. Data analysis indued measures of central tendency, frequency distributions, and analysis of variance.

Ten hypotheses were formulated and tested. An alpha level of .05 was selected as the criterion of statistical significance for the study. Hypothesis I stated that females would report a significantly greater number in their social support network. This was not supported with the data analysis. Hypothesis II proposed that males would more likely express satisfaction with the perceived quality of their social support. This hypothesis was not supported. Hypothesis III stipulated that spouses would inaccurately perceive their partners' first three major sources of social support. This hypothesis was supported. Hypothesis IV predicted that health would be an important concern of married professional couples. Health was the second most frequently cited concern. This hypothesis was supported. Hypothesis V stated that children would be the most frequently cited number one concern for those couples with children. The analysis of data supported this hypothesis. Hypotheses VI, VII, and VIII predicted that there would be a significant difference between males and females on affect (Hypothesis VI), affirmation (Hypothesis VII), and aid (Hypothesis VIII). Hypothesis VI was supported while Hypotheses VII and VIII were rejected. Hypothesis IX stated that males and females would differ significantly on the amount of contact with those in their social support network. This hypothesis was not supported. Hypothesis X stated that the degree of social support reported by males and females would differ significantly on the combined scores on affect, affirmation, and aid. This hypothesis was rejected.

Involvement in religious activities exhibited the strongest association with social support. Implications for nursing included that nurses become more aware of the importance of social support as it relates to their clients' well-being and health care. Review of literature revealed that little research was conducted on the middle-aged group. This finding illustrated a need for nursing researchers to include this age group in some of their future investigations. Results from this study indicated that more research is needed on the validity of the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire. Another ramification for nursing was that the middle-aged group expressed that one of their major worries or concerns was health.

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