Supporting Military Families – A Comparative Study in Social Support Arrangements for Military Families (Theoretical Dimensions & Empirical Comparison between Countries)

Seeking social support is one of the ways people use to cope with stressful situations. Sometimes people have extensive social networks and do not need support from the organization. Sometimes the organization can stimulate and facilitate informal family support groups. The effectiveness of social support has been much discussed by many scholars (Bell, Segal & Rice, 1995; Cohen & Wills, 1985; Rosen & Moghadam, 1990). Desylva and Gal (1996) already started exploring solutions in order to overcome the conflict between families and the military organization. They focussed mainly on family structures. We hope to bring the discussion a little bit further by focusing on structures of social support networks. From our research concerning social support certain findings were replicated over and over again (Moelker & Cloïn, 1997). In the 2001-survey we again found that 64 % agreed to the statement ‘the support from family, friends and neighbors is more useful to me than the family support rendered by the army’. 39 % thinks that family support group meetings are useful, but 63 % never visited them. In general family support is very much appreciated, but people tend to think that it is more useful to others than to themselves. These findings raise the question how family support should be organized so that it is as efficient and effective as can be. Exchange theory can provide an answer to this question whilst taking into account that the needs of individuals will differ. What is effective and efficient support to one individual will not be same for someone else. 1