Stability of Index of Social Support Reciprocity among Friendships: Distinction between Perceived and Enacted Support

Previous research on reciprocity of social support has not clearly recognized the distinction between perceived support and enacted support. This study investigated the current availability and provision of support, or perceived support, and support enacted (received and given), or the actual support exchange, during the past month in two surveys. Participants were Japanese college students in the same groups of Fukuoka’s (2003) original survey. The first survey of this study was administered 8 weeks later and the second survey of this study was done 12 weeks later from the original one. Analyses were conducted on each of the data and longitudinally. Overall, reciprocity of perceived support significantly influenced the interpersonal affect. Enacted support reciprocity had a significant influence on the interpersonal affect as perceived support reciprocity only when the recipients’ experience of stressful situations as support needs were taken into consideration. The most stable results were taken from the analyses on the variables of perceived support. The second most stable ones were taken from the variables of the analyses on the variables of enacted support with the consideration of the need of support. These results were discussed with regard to the importance of the distinction between perceived and enacted support within the framework of support reciprocity