Seeking the Support That We Want: Goal Matching in Social Support Outcomes and Supporter Selection

Past support-seeking research has examined under what circumstances social support is most effective. Optimal matching theory posits that a match between type and amount of support provided yields the best support outcomes. One hundred and twenty undergraduate students completed an intake survey about their potential support network and 12 daily surveys regarding their support-seeking behaviors. The present study seeks to replicate the effect of goal matching in experienced support outcomes as well as ascertain if matching between support goals and expectations of potential support providers (PSPs) occurs in supporter selection. I hypothesized that (a) individuals will be more likely to experience positive outcomes when the support they receive is consistent with the support they desire; (b) individuals will be more likely to seek support from PSPs that they expect to be able to fulfill their support goals and (c) this will especially occur when individuals are experiencing higher-severity issues and for individuals reporting higher levels of attachment avoidance. The results provided strong evidence for goal matching in support outcomes, moderate evidence for goal matching in supporter selection, and little evidence for moderators of goal matching in supporter selection. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Grantor dc:publisher

Wake Forest University

Year dc:date.issued

2017

Author dc:creator

• Francis, Michelle

• goal pursuit

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/82196

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:wakespace.lib.wfu.edu:10339/82196