Convoys of Social Support in Childhood : Its Structure Analysed by Relationship Categories

초록

The purpose of this study was (1) to explore how social supports are convoyed as children grow older and (2) to examine the structure of social support depending on children's gender, fathers' education, job, and parents' marital status. The data was collected by quesitionnaires from 656 children of the second, fifth, and eighth graders in rural and urban areas. The major findings were as follows: 1. Children were likely to put parents in the inner circle, siblings and extended kin in the middle circle, and friends in the outer circle. The size of social support in each circle increased with age. Girls put more friends in the middle circle, while boys put more neighbors in the outer circle, as they grew older. 2. The more fathers were educated, the less support children pursed from their sibling, while the more fahters were educatted, the more support children pursued to get from their extended kin. 3. When fathers worked in rural area, children pursued to get support from their sibling and neighbor more than their counterparts did. When fathers worked in urban area, children pursued to get support from their kin more than their counterparts did. 4. When parents were divorced, convoy sizes of their children were significantly decreased in all circles.