Global perceptions of social support are as stable as personality characteristics, although people occasionally must experience support that violates their expectations. To help understand this phenomenon, two studies investigated perceived support and attributions for when support is needed but not received. The authors hypothesized that persons with high perceived social support would explain that ineffective support resulted from unstable and specific factors. In contrast, low perceived social support persons were expected to make more negative attributions. In Study 1, low versus high perceived social support people made more negative attributions for hypothetical situations in which individuals needed support but did not get it. In Study 2, women described actual failed support experiences. Again, women low in social support made more negative attributions for failed support, compared to those with high support. In both studies, the relation between support and attributions could not be explained by negative emotion.
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