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The construct of social support has been very useful in understanding mental and physical health, including mortality and some specific illnesses. It is important to distinguish among three different types of social support: perceived support, enacted support, and social integration. Each type is measured differently and the three have different relations to outcomes. For example, measures of perceived support are especially good at predicting mental health, and measures of social integration have an impressive track record in predicting mortality. Thus, selection of a social support measure that is most appropriate for predicting the specific outcome of interest is important.
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