Social supports have been viewed as central to psychological well-
being, but little attention has been directed to the capacity to form
supportive relationships. Psychoanalytic perspectives suggest that the
quality of adult relationships is derived from earlier childhood attachment
experiences. The authors tested this thesis by correlating medical
students' perceptions of their earlier relationships with their parents
with the perceived quality of their current social support networks. The
data suggest the need for a more complex and psychodynamically relevant
conceptualization of social supports, which has implications for
therapeutic interventions to ameliorate support deficits.
Abstract Teaser