Social ties, social support, and perceived health status among chronically disabled people

Social ties can be particularly useful to disabled people, but little is known about the nature of social support in this population. This study investigated social ties, perceived support, received support, and perceived health status in a sample of 332 disabled persons living in a southeastern metropolitan area of the U.S. Major disability groups represented were musculoskeletal, neuromuscular, cardiac, and end-stage renal disease. Size of kin networks was inversely related to respondents' socioeconomic status. Disabled women were less likely than disabled men to be married, more likely to be single-parent heads of household, and more likely to be socioeconomically disadvantaged. Perceived support from family was high for all respondents. Perceived health status did not vary with amount of perceived support, but within disability groups, perceived health status tended to vary with amount of received help.