This is the first in-depth study of the social support satisfaction of Australian
children, measured using the “My Family and Friends” interview
(Reid, Landesman, Treder, & Jaccard, 1989). This, together with the
Self-Perception Profile for Children (Harter, 1985), was administered to 70 Adelaide
children aged 9–11. A main effect of support provider and an interaction
between support type and provider were found. Self-esteem was predicted by both
overall social support satisfaction and network size. The Australian children
reported lower levels and different patterns of support in comparison with
previously published data from the USA. Australian parents were perceived as less
“generalist” in their support, giving particularly low levels of
companionship support. Friends gave high levels of companionship support but low
levels of all other types; this, as in the case of parents, makes Australian friends
more “specialist” supporters than their US counterparts.
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