Journal of Community Health Vol 13, No. 2, Summer 1988 SOCIAL SUPPORT AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT: ISSUES IN THEORY, RESEARCH, AND PRACTICE Cathleen M. Connell, PhD and Anthony R. D'Augelli, PhD ABSTRACT: The physical and psychological correlates and conse- quences of social support have received much attention in the past decade. To date, however, much research on social support has not been guided by an integrated theoretical or conceptual framework. In this report, a life span developmental perspective is suggested for the study of social support. The discussion addresses numerous concep- tual, theoretical, and empirical concerns related to the investigation of support. Implications for designing, implementing, and evaluating support-related interventions are highlighted. INTRODUCTION Research on the physical and mental health correlates and the consequences of social support has accumulated at a remarkable rate over the last decade, as evidenced by the appearance of many analytic reviews and books. ~-~'-' Over 450 studies were published in the psycho- logical literature alone in the two years following the inclusion of social support as an index term in Psychological Abstracts. ~:' The diversity of human service activities that currently operate under the general social support rubric is paralleled by the numerous empirical methods used to study the construct. Refinement of theory, empirical research, and practice in this area is essential. To test the intuitively appealing assumption that social support has a salutary effect on physical and psychological health, it is critical that social support be defined precisely, operationalized in multidimensional terms, and Cathleen M. Connell, Ph.D. is a Research Fellow in the Department of Internal Medi- cine, Division of Lipid Research, at the Washington University School of Medicine. Anthony R. D'Augelli, l'h.D, is an Associate Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at The Pennsylwmia State University. Requests tor reprints should be addressed to Cathleen M. Connell, Ph.D., Research Fellow, Center fi~r Health Behavior Research, Washington University School of Medicine, 33 Soulh Euclid Avenue, 2nd tloor, SI. Louis, MO 63108. This research was funded in part by a National Institute on Aging pre-doctoral training grant to The Pennsylvania State University (#T32-AG00048) and a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute post-doctoral training grant, Nturition-Behavinral Cardiovascular Disease Preven- tion (#5T32-HL(17456) to lhe Washington University School of Medicine. 104 © 1988 Human Sciences Press