Social Support and Depressive Symptoms among Blacks

Depressive symptoms among a sample of Black adults were investigated as a function of three structural characteristics of social support networks: (1) frequency of contact with network members, (2) durability of network relationships, and (3) reciprocity of network relationships. Overall, respondents had frequent contact with their network members, long-term network relationships, and little reciprocity in network relationships. None of these structural characteristics were significantly related to depressive symptoms. Several demographic factors, however, had an effect on depressive symptom scores and network characteristics. Implications of these findings are discussed.