Sex Roles, Vol. 28, Nos.

7/8, 1993

Effects of Gender and Gender Role

Identification of Participant and Type of
Social Support Resource on Support Seeking 1
William A. Ashton 2
St. Olaf College

Ann Fuehrer
Miami University

The relationship between type of social support resource (emotional vs.

instrumental support) sought and gender and gender role identification was
examined. Gender-typed and androgynous, white, middle to upper middle class
males and females were given scenarios describing situations in which help
was needed, and which also identified a female helper who wouM provide
either emotional or instrumental support. The results indicated that males
reported a significantly lower likelihood of seeking emotional support than
instrumental support, while no significant differences were found between levels
of seeking emotional and instrumental support for females. In comparing men
and women for each type of support, it was found that males reported a
significantly lower likelihood of seeking emotional support than did females'.
In addition, gender-typed males reported seeking emotional support
significantly less than did the other three groups: androgynous males and
females, and gender-typed females.
iThis article was derived from the first author's master's thesis, who wishes to gratefully
acknowledge the support and guidance of Ann Fuehrer, Richard Sherman, and Stephen
Hinkle in the preparation of this article, the assistance of Andrew Avellano and Jami
Pennington, and the anonymous reviewers for their comments on this article.
2To whom reprint requests should be addressed at Department of Psychology, Box 1531 St.
Olaf College, Narthfield, MN 55057.

461
0360-0025/93/04004461507.00/0 © 1993 PlenumPublishingCorporation
462 Ashton and Fuehrer

During the past two decades psychologists have begun to examine the natu-
rally occurring therapeutic forces in people's everyday lives. For example,
Cassel has suggested that a person's interaction with his or her social en-
vironment can either encourage or discourage illness (Cassel, cited in
Schooler, 1975). That is, health could be endangered by social stressors or
protected by social supports provided to the individual by his or her social
group. A number of researchers have studied the effects of "social support"
upon mental health and well-being (cf. Shumaker & Brownell, 1984), and
have found evidence of the beneficial effects of social support upon both
physical health and psychological well-being (cf. House, 1981).
In many cases, to receive these benefits, individuals must actively seek
out social support from members of their social networks or join self-help
groups. Without this active commitment to seeking social support, it is pos-
sible that they may not receive any at all. If this is true, then the type of
social support an individual prefers to ask for might be the predominant
type of social support he or she would receive. For example, social support
researchers using several different measures of support (e.g., supportive re-
sources available, resources received, or satisfaction with support) have
found that men, relative to women, receive lower levels of emotional sup-
port (Burda, Vaux, & Schill, 1984). One specific question addressed in this
study was whether women experience more emotional support simply be-
cause they ask for it, while men do not.
While social support researchers have not directly addressed this
question, a number of studies exist on the differences in "help-seeking be-
havior" between men and women. Although these findings were produced
by a different research tradition, the prosocial "helping" literature (e.g.,
Fisher, Nadler, & Whitcher-Alagna, 1982; Nadler, Fisher, & DePaulo,
1983; Tessler & Schwartz, 1972; & Wallston, 1976), it can be suggested
that at a conceptual level "helping behaviors" are a subset of the larger
set of socially supportive behaviors. Thus, results of research from the help-
ing tradition may be applicable to the question of gender differences in
perceived social support.

Social Support and Helping Behavior

Social support has been defined as an exchange of resources between

at least two individuals perceived by the provider or the recipient as in-
tended to enhance the well-being of the recipient (Shumaker & Brownell,
1984). This definition of social support does not address the issue of reci-
procity. Thus, social support could occur in situations where there are
Gender Differences and Social Support 463

explicit agreements concerning repayment, or in situations where there are

no explicit agreements (cf. Chesler & Barbarin, 1984, p. 130).
A helping behavior is defined as an act that benefits others with no
rewards promised in return prior to the act (Bar-tal & Raviv, 1982). Con-
sequently, any helping act is a form of the second type of social support
mentioned above, social support without a prior agreement concerning
reciprocity.
Since helping can be seen as a subtype of social support, questions
concerning social support seeking may potentially be answered by the find-
ings of helping researchers who have examined the factors that influence
the seeking of interpersonal helping resources. Two such factors that might
relate to the request of social support are the gender and gender role iden-
tification of the recipient.

Gender and Gender Role Differences in Social Support

and Help Seeking

In his review of the literature, Vaux (1988) concluded that women

receive more social support than did men only when support was defined
by the number of confidantes reported and the amount of emotional sup-
port received. For example, Burda et al. (1984) found that women received
more support than men did. Women also reported larger support networks
and that they received more emotional support. In terms of gender role
differences, Burda et al. found that those individuals with feminine and an-
drogynous gender roles had larger networks and received more emotional
support that those with masculine gender role orientations or those who
were undifferentiated.
The helping literature's perspective on gender and gender role dif-
ferences in help seeking emphasizes the interaction of situational and per-
son variables on perceptions of the help-seeking situation. This perspective
assumes that situation and person variables interact to create situations
that are perceived as relatively threatening, or nonthreatening. The
amount of perceived threat is a direct determinant of help seeking (Fisher
et al., 1982).
Research done within the helping paradigm has demonstrated how
the concept of threat applies to the person variables of gender and gender
role identification and the situation variable of gender role appropriate-
hess of the task that help is needed to complete. Wallston (1976), in a
study using males, examined the relationship between gender role identi-
fication, the gender role appropriateness of the task, and help seeking.
Wallston manipulated the gender-role appropriateness of the task by
464 Ashton and Fuehrer

informing the participants that success on the task correlated with either
high levels of psychological masculinity or femininity. When the partici-
pants faced failure (the tasks were rigged for failure), gender-typed males
made fewer requests for help on the "masculine" task than on the "femi-
nine" task. Wallston suggested that publicly admitting failure on the gen-
der-role appropriate task (the masculine task), by asking for help, would
be too threatening to gender-typed m a l e s - - m a l e s who strongly adhere
to the cultural gender-role norms. For the gender-typed males on the
nongender role-appropriate task, and the nongender-typed participants on
both tasks, admitting failure was not threatening, and thus higher levels
of help seeking were observed.
Nadler, Maler, and Friedman's (1984) experiment on help seeking
added an interesting twist to the study of the relationship between gender-
role identification, the gender-role appropriateness of the task, and help
seeking. While Wallston operationalized gender-role appropriateness of
task by way of deceptive feedback, Nadler et al. gave participants scenarios
describing situations in which a college student needed help. The situations
themselves were neutral in terms of gender-role appropriateness. However,
male and female participants could ask for help from female and male
helpers, the gender of which were manipulated. The researchers assumed
that certain combinations of helper and helpee gender would create gen-
der-role appropriate and inappropriate situations.
Nadler et al. found that males were more willing to seek help from
a female helper than from a male helper, while females showed no pref-
erence. The researchers suggested that when a male sought help from an-
other male the gender role norms of male competition would make help
seeking inappropriate. When, however, a male could ask a female for help,
the female's gender-typed attributes of caring become salient and create
a nonthreatening situation for the male. And when the help seeker is a
female, the feminine characteristics of dependency of the help seeker,
would make seeking help appropriate regardless of the gender of helper.
Nadler et al. also found significant gender-role identification effects that
the researchers characterized as amplifying the situational gender-role
norms: gender-typed males and females were most likely to display re-
sponses congruent with their gender roles. Gender-typed males expressed
less willingness to seek help than androgynous males, and gender-typed
females reported themselves more willing to seek help than androgynous
females.
The preceding review of studies on social support receipt and gender
and gender role supports the idea that individuals with an expressive ori-
entation receive more support in general and more emotional support in
particular. If we look at this situation from the perspective of the traditionally
Gender Differences and Social Support 465

gender-typed male, we see that they receive less support and less emotional
support than other types of individuals studied. Why is this so? One answer
to this question may be found in the work within the helping paradigm,
cited above, on help seeking in gender-role appropriate and inappropriate
situations.
Taken together, an analysis of Fisher et aL's (1982), Wallston's
(1976), and Nadler et al.'s (1984) work would suggest that men and
women would not seek help in gender-role inappropriate situations, es-
pecially if they are gender typed. Applying this theory to the question
above would lead to this conclusion: men, and especially gender-typed
men, view seeking support, and especially emotional support, as gender
role inappropriate; and because of this view do not actively seek support
in general and emotional support in particular. One assumption of this
analysis is that social support and emotional support are masculine
gender-role inappropriate.
Theory and research exist that suggest support and emotional sup-
port are incongruent with the masculine gender role. Social support is
often sought in times of need and it may be safe to assume that some
type of disclosure of need, on the part of the recipient, has occurred. The
male gender role is described as instrumental, while the female gender
role is described as emotionally expressive (Parsons & Bales, 1955). Since
emotional support includes communication to the recipient that he or she
is loved, cared for, and esteemed (cf. House, 1981), such intimate behavior
is diametrically opposed to the male gender role, while the male gender
role supports discussions concerning instrumental topics. Women, stereo-
typically, would find support and emotional support gender-role appropri-
ate due to the expressive component of their gender role. Empirical
studies on communication patterns support these theoretical predictions
(Derlega, Durham, Gockel, & Sholis, 1981; Grigsby & Weatherley, 1983;
Winstead, Derlega, & Wong, 1984). For example, Youniss and Smollar
(1985) found that in adolescent relationships males discuss intimate topics
less than females, and that males discuss nonintimate issues more than
females (pp. 97 and 99). Aries and Johnson (1983) found similar results
for adults.
Of course, the preceding argument is based upon theory. The pro-
pose of the present study is to empirically test these predictions concerning
the propensity to seek social support in general, and specifically instru-
mental and emotional support, of gender-typed and androgynous men and
women.
The variables of interest are the gender and gender-role identification
of the recipient and the type of social-support resource (either instrumental
or emotional) available. The participants were presented with three descriptions
466 Ashton and Fuehrer

of need. Half of the participants received descriptions of the need state

and an instrumental support provider, and the remaining participants re-
ceived the description of the need state and an emotional support provider.
The type of support was presented as a between-subjects variable due to
concern of possible hypothesis guessing if participants were presented with
both emotional and instrumental support scenarios. The dependent variable
was the participants' reported likelihood of seeking support. The following
is predicted:
Hypothesis 1. Females would find seeking support, in general, gen-
der-role appropriate while males would find it, relatively, less appropriate.
Thus, females would report a greater likelihood of seeking support than
males.
Hypothesis 2A. Males would find situations where they could seek emo-
tional support gender-role inappropriate and women would find seeking emo-
tional support appropriate. Therefore, we predict that males would report a
lower likelihood of seeking emotional support than females would.
Hypothesis 2B. Following the logic in Hypothesis 2A, we would predict
that males would seek less emotional support than instrumental support. Along
the same line of reasoning, Hypothesis 2C predicts that females would find
seeking emotional support more appropriate than seeking instrumental sup-
port. Thus, for females, we predict higher levels of reported likelihood of emo-
tional support seeking relative to instrumental support seeking.
Hypothesis 3A. Gender-typed males would be less likely than androgy-
nous males and females and gender-typed females to find seeking emo-
tional support a gender role inappropriate situation. Thus, we predict a
significant difference between gender-typed males and the three other
groups in their propensity to seek emotional support, with males reporting
less emotional support seeking.
Hypothesis 3B. With respect to instrumental support, we expect gender-
typed males and androgynous males and females to find the situation more
gender role appropriate than gender-typed females. Gender-typed males and
androgynous males and females all have a masculine component to their gen-
der role while gender-typed females do not; hence, these should report seek-
ing instrumental support more than gender-typed females.

METHOD

Participants

One hundred seventy-eight male and 182 female Miami University

undergraduate students participated in this study as an optional requirement
Gender Differences and Social Support 467

for their introductory psychology class. The participants were mainly white
and middle to upper-middle class.

Research Design

This study's design consisted of a 2 (gender of participant) × 2 (gen-

der-role identification of participant) × 2 (type of support). The gender of
participant, gender-role identification of participant and type of support fac-
tors were all between subject factors. The type of support was manipulated
between subjects due to concerns over hypothesis guessing if the two levels
of support type were presented as a within-subjects independent variable.

Materials

Support-Seeking Questionnaire. The questionnaire that measured support

seeking and perceptions of support helpfulness was a modification of Nadler
et al.'s (1984) questionnaire, which describes situations in which help is needed
within a campus environment. Participants were asked to respond to three
scenarios. These scenarios were constructed by adding to the end of three
situations in which aid would be useful (indecision over a term paper topic,
not enough time for studies and social activities, and a conflict with a bellig-
erent professor) information indicating whether instrumental or emotional
support was available. For the instrumental support condition, the helper was
identified as a friend with some instrumental expertise (knowledge about po-
tential paper topics, time management, and college rules, respectively). Help-
ers who could provide emotional social support were identified as friends who
are caring and good listeners. These behaviors have been described as emo-
tional support (cf. House, 1981, p. 19). The scenarios were pilot tested con-
cerning: (1) whether one gender may find success in the situation more
important than the other gender would, and (2) whether emotional or instru-
mental support would be better suited for solving the stated problem. The set
of scenarios used were not rated differently on both criterion.
The support providers described in the scenarios, were identified as
Ann, Sue or Pare. [In contrast to Nadler et al.'s (1984) procedure, the sex
of helper was held constant across all participants. Nadler et al. found
that female help seekers exhibited no preference for sex of helper, while
males preferred female helpers. These findings could be interpreted as
suggesting that the sex of helper by sex of participant interaction may be
so salient in a situation that other factors, such as type of support, may
be ignored. That is, there may be something so threatening about a male
asking a male for help (such as homophobia, cf. Chafetz, 1978, p. 202)
468 Ashton and Fuehrer

that other factors may be ignored. While this is indeed an interesting

proposition for study, it was not investigated in the present study.] Par-
ticipants were asked to indicate on a scale of 1-6 how likely they would
be to seek the support provided (where 1 indicates that the participant
would definitely seek support and 6 indicates that the participant would
definitely not seek support). These scenarios were alternated with three
filler questions concerning giving support and help. Two different sets of
questionnaires were created, one for each type of support. (Please see
Appendix A for both sets of scenarios.)
Finally, it should be noted that the scenarios did not include an agree-
ment concerning reciprocity before the support was given. Therefore, this
type of support matched the definition of helping.
Bern Sex-Role Inventory. The Long Form of the Bern Sex-Role Inven-
tory (BSRI; Bern, 1974; Bern, Martyna, & Watson, 1976; 60 items) was
used to separate individuals into eight groups: gender-typed males and fe-
males, androgynous males and females, undifferentiated males and females,
and gender-reversed males and females.
Each participant received a masculine and a feminine score. Males
whose masculine score fell above the median masculine score for men
and feminine score fell below the median feminine score for men, and
females whose feminine score fell above the median feminine score for
women and masculine score fell below the median masculine score for
women, were classified as gender typed. Participants whose masculine and
feminine scores both fell above the respective medians were classified as
androgynous. Since no other study of help seeking has included gender
reversed or undifferentiated individuals, no predictions were made for
these individuals. Therefore, all remaining participants, both gender-re-
versed and undifferentiated participants, were dropped from all analyses.

Procedure

Approximately 20-60 male and female participants were tested per ses-
sion in either a large classroom or lecture hall. Participants sat so that at
least one seat was separating them. The experimenter greeted the partici-
pants and told them that they were taking part in an experiment concerning
how college students react to social problems and asked them to try to imag-
ine that the situations were real and answer accordingly. The experimenter
distributed the booklets that contained the support-seeking questionnaire
and the BSRI (in that order). Unknown to the participants, booklets for
both conditions were distributed during the same session. The participants
were given as much time as they needed to complete the booklet.
Gender Differences and Social Support 469

RESULTS

BSRI Results

The BSRI results for the 360 participants were as follows: the median
score for males on the masculine scale was 4.4 and on the feminine scale
was 3.85. The median score for females on the masculine scale was 3.75
and on the feminine scale was 4.4. With this procedure, 39 of the males
were classified as androgynous and 46 as gender typed (i.e., masculine);
for the females, 40 were classified as androgynous, 47 as gender typed (i.e.,
feminine). As noted previously, only gender typed and androgynous par-
ticipants' scores were analyzed.

Likelihood of Seeking Support Measure

The hypotheses were tested by way of a 2 (gender: male/female) x

2 (gender role: gender typed/androgynous) x 2 (type of support: emo-
tional/instrumental) between-subjects analysis of variance conducted on
the dependent variable of the aggregate of the participants' responses to
the three scenarios. Thus, the dependent variable could run from 3, indi-
cating that they "definitely" would not seek support, to 18, indicating that
they "definitely" would seek support. Planned contrasts were used when
appropriate. See Table I for a summary of the means and standard de-
viations.
For Hypothesis 1, as predicted, females reported a greater likelihood
of seeking support than males [M = 12.40 (SD = 2.79) and M = 10.61
(SD = 3.52), respectively; F(1, 164) = 140.33, p < 0.0002].
For Hypothesis 2A, as expected, males reported a lower likelihood
of seeking emotional support than females did [M = 9.42 (SD = 3.51), and
M = 12.27 (SD = 3.06)]. These means were evaluated by examining the
two-way interaction and the simple main effect. The two-way interaction
was marginally significant [F(1, 164) = 3.49, p < 0.06] and the simple main
effect of gender at the emotional level of type of support was significant
[F(1, 164) --- 17.30, p < 0.0001].
Hypothesis 2B was supported [F(1, 164) = 11.33, p < 0.0001]: males
reported a lower propensity to seek emotional support relative to instru-
mental support [3// = 9.42 (SD = 3.51) and M = 11.67 (SD = 3.21), re-
spectively].
Hypothesis 2C was not supported. Females did not significantly (F <
1) report a higher likelihood of seeking emotional support than of seeking
instrumental support.
470 Ashton and Fuehrer

Table I. Cell Means (and Standard Deviation) of the Likelihood

of Seeking Support Measure
Males
Emotional Instrumental
Androgynous 10.53 (3.50) 12.14 (2.93)
Gender typed 8.69 (3.37) 11.22 (3.45)

9.42 (3.51) 11.67 (3,21)

10,61 (3.52)

Females
Emotional Instrumental
Androgynous 12.29 (3.07) 13.21 (1.96)
Gender typed 12.26 (3.14) 12.04 (2.83)

12.27 (3.14) 12.04 (2.83)

12.04 (2.79)

Hypothesis 3A, which predicted that gender-typed males would report

a higher likelihood of seeking emotional than that of all other groups, was
examined by a planned contrast between the means of gender- typed fe-
m a l e s (M = 12.26; SD = 3 . 1 4 ) , a n d r o g y n o u s m a l e s (M = 10.53;
SD = 3.50), and androgynous females (M = 12.29; SD = 3.07) vs. gender-
typed males (M = 8.69; SD = 3.37) for emotional support. The contrast
was significant [F(1, 164) = 15.72, p < 0.001].
Hypothesis 3B predicted that gender-typed females would report a
lower likelihood of seeking instrumental support as compared to androgy-
nous males and females and gender-typed males. This prediction was also
examined by a planned contrast between the means of gender-typed fe-
m a l e s (M = 12.04; SD = 2.83) vs. g e n d e r - t y p e d males (M = 11.22;
SD = 3.45), androgynous females (M = 13.21; SD = 1.96), and androgy-
nous males (M = 12.14; SD = 2.93) for instrumental support. T h e contrast
was not significant (F < 1).
Gender Differences and Social Support 471

DISCUSSION

The results of this study suggest that males are less likely to seek
support than females, and more specifically, males, and ~gender-typed
males, would be less likely to seek emotional support. With regard to
males and, especially gender-typed males, we can state that these indi-
viduals tend to avoid gender role inappropriate situations. These results
are congruent with past research (Wallston, 1976; Nadler et aL, 1984) and
theoretical accounts (Fisher et aL, 1982) and also illustrate the congruence
between social support sought and social support received (cf. Burda,
Vaux, & Schill, 1984).
Three problems, however, must be addressed and discussed: (1) the
negative results for females and instrumental support, (2) the constraints
of using hypothetical situations, and (3) the use of only female support
providers.
Hypotheses 2C and 3B were not supported. The commonality of these
two hypotheses is that they dealt with instrumental support and females.
One possible explanation for this pattern of results for instrumental support
and women could be found in the work of Spence (cf. 1985, p. 86). She
suggested that it is possible for individuals to incorporate nongender-typed
elements into one's overall sense of gender, without affecting it. Recall that
our sample consisted of college students, and that our instrumental situ-
ations consisted of academic problems. It could be argued that, in college,
subcultural norms favor instrumental behaviors, in women, for dealing with
academic problems. If the above is correct, then it seems reasonable to
assume that the females (and feminine gender-typed individuals) in our
study may have incorporated a positive orientation toward seeking help on
academically related instrumental tasks--without it affecting their percep-
tion of their gender-role identity. This could explain why two of the hy-
potheses were unsupported. Hypothesis 2C predicted that females would
seek more emotional support than instrumental support. Such a prediction
would be valid only if, stereotypicaIly, females found seeking academically
related instrumental support inappropriate. As we suggested above, this
may not be so. The same logic could be applied to Hypothesis 3B, that it
is only valid if females, stereotypically, and individuals with a feminine as-
pect to their gender-role identity, find the behaviors presented to them in
our study inappropriate. Thus, in this study, we see an asymmetrical rela-
tionship between men and women and support seeking. Women feel free
to seek both emotional and instrumental support, but men only seek ster-
eotypically appropriate types of support. This issue is further discussed in
the Theoretical Perspectives section.
472 Ashton and Fuehrer

A second area of concern with the results of this study is the exter-
nat/ecological validity of a questionnaire study. This question is relevant for
every questionnaire or paper and pencil study. Our response to this question
is based upon the results of a postexperimental questionnaire given to our
participants. When asked to what degree they felt the situations were true
to life, the majority of our participants responded with statements such as
"true to life," or "very true to life." Thus, we feel if our participants con-
sidered these hypothetical situations true to life, it is possible that the results
are relevant to what may happen in an actual situation.
Finally, we would like to address the use of only female support provid-
ers in the scenarios. The main thrust of the theoretical orientation of this
paper is that the gender-role appropriateness of a situation will cause dif-
ferent levels of support seeking between men and women, and between in-
dividuals with different gender types. Past research suggests that the gender
of the help/support provider contributes to the gender role appropriateness
of a situation (i.e., Wallston, 1976; Nadler et al., 1984). That is, the situation
of a male seeking help from a male may be less gender role congruent than
a female seeking help from a male, with the latter case tapping into the
"woman in distress/man as rescuer" role. Thus, a confound is present in our
s t u d y - - all of the results reported must be qualified with the phrase, "from
a female support provider." While the results would have been more gen-
eralizable with female and male support providers, reliance on only a female
support provider did not mitigate greatly from the importance of our find-
ings. Given the practical considerations we faced when planning this study,
we decided not to manipulate the gender of provider variable because we
considered it to be the least critical variable of those we were dealing with
(i.e., gender of participant, gender role, and type of support). We fixed this
variable at the female level because of past research, which suggests that
both males and females would disclose more to females than to males
(Deaux, 1977, cited in Derlega et al., 1981).
These three questions--(1), the appropriateness of academically related
instrumental behaviors for feminine gender-typed individuals, (2), the ability to
generalize from our paper and pencil study, and (3), the effects of the gender
of the support provider--can only be answered through further research.

Theoretical Perspectives

Our experimental results can address several, broader, theoretical

perspectives--namely, Fisher et al.'s (1982) theory on recipient reaction
to aid, the gender appropriateness of support, help seeking, and the process
of social support.
Gender Differences and Social Support 473

Our results for emotional support seeking supported Fisher et al.'s

model: Our participants sought support in only gender-role congruent (self-
esteem enhancing) situations. However, our predictions concerning instru-
mental support were not supported, and thus did not support Fisher et aL's
theory. However, as we have suggested, it is possible--after an examina-
tion of the literature on gender-typed behavior and considering the special
characteristics of the sample p o p u l a t i o n - - t o conclude that academically
related instrumental behaviors may be appropriate for the females and
feminine gender-typed individuals in our college population. If this is cor-
rect, it would provide support for Fisher et al.'s theory.
Another intriguing question concerns the degree of benefit males, and
masculine gender-typed individuals, would receive from emotional support.
Our results have shown that these individuals do not seek emotional sup-
_port; does this mean that they do not wish to receive it? Past research
(Bern & Lenney, 1976; Nadler et al., 1984) suggests that gender-role inap-
propriate behaviors may be detrimental to gender-typed males, demonstrat-
ing a cost of receiving social support (cf. Shumaker & Brownell, 1984).
Possibly, the males and masculine gender-typed individuals in our study
avoided emotional support seeking to avoid the cost of entering into a gen-
der-role inappropriate situation. Such thinking fits into Fisher et al. 's (1982)
model of help seeking and into Eckenrode and Wethington's (1990),
Cutrona, Suhr, and MacFarlane's (1990), and Barbee's (1990) perspectives
on social support, which stress a perspective taking into account charac-
teristics of the support seeker, donor, their relationship, and of the broader
social and physical environment. Our study has demonstrated that the mere
availability of an appropriate support resource does not mean that it will
be accepted; the broader relational and social situation (i.e. the cost to
gender-typed males of seeking emotional support) affects the acceptance
of support.
Eckenrode and Wethington's (1990) work on support mobilization is
especially pertinent to our study in that it recognizes that help-seeking be-
havior is an intermediate step in the process of support mobilization. Their
view of help seeking focuses on the dichotomy between solicited and un-
solicited support. Our study focused exclusively upon unsolicited social sup-
port, a type of support Eckenrode and Wethington believe has outcomes
superior to solicited support. Future research, in our paradigm, should be
directed towards solicited support, which Eckenrode and Wethington view
as more problematical in nature (p. 92). Taken together, the material pre-
sented above suggests that issues familiar to the help-seeking researcher
(such as Fisher et al.'s focus upon situational and relational variables) are
of crucial importance to the social-support researcher.
474 Ashton and Fuehrer

This study's findings are also able to address more general issues of
gender. As mentioned above, our participants' responses can be construed
as indicators of gender-congruent/incongruent situations, while, as ex-
pected, situations involving emotional support proved incongruent with the
masculine gender role. Unexpectedly, we found that situations involving
instrumental support were not incongruent with the feminine gender role.
Two explanations can be offered concerning the asymmetric nature of
these findings. First, the way people adhere to gender roles may be a very
flexible and ideographic process, as suggested by Spence (cf. 1985, p. 86).
Or it may be that social support, in general, may be overwhelmingly femi-
nine in nature. Perhaps this is due to the fact that emotional or instru-
mental support are both embedded in a communal, hence feminine,
situation: the interpersonal relationship (cf. Ashton, 1991, pp. 92-93).
Thus, it may be that women, stereotypically, are comfortable with support
of any type, while men grudgingly accept the least inappropriate type of
support, instrumental support. This idea receives tangential support from
the significant gender main effect. This asymmetry is an interesting topic
for future study.
Finally, the original question posed in this paper, whether the type
of social support an individual prefers to ask for would be the predominant
type of social support he or she would receive, has been addressed. In our
study, m a l e s - - w h o receive less emotional support than females, and indi-
viduals with masculine gender-types, who receive less emotional support
that individuals with other gender types (Burda et al., 1984)--reported a
lower likelihood of seeking emotional support. These results strengthen the
argument that social support seeking is an important factor in the type of
social support received.

APPENDIX A

Support Scenarios

You have to write a 15-page paper for one of your classes. The date
for when you have to decide upon a topic for you paper is approaching
and you can't decide between two equally interesting topics. (Emotional
Support: Pare, a friend of yours who is always around to "just listen" to
your feelings about things knows how frustrated you feel about this deci-
sion. She's said that if want to talk: she's available.) (Instrumental Support:
A friend of yours, named Pam, knows a lot about both of these topics.
She's said that if you want her advice on which topic to pick, just come
over to her dorm sometime and she'll help you decide.)
Gender Differences and Social Support 475

It seems that you don't have enough time in the day to get to every-
thing you want to. You're becoming very frustrated because you barely have
time to finish your homework and none at all for seeing your friends or
anything else. (Emotional support: Y o u mentioned this problem to Sue, a
friend of yours, and she has offered to lend a sympathetic ear to your feel-
ings.) (Instrumental Support: You have a friend named Sue, who is good
at planning her time and has offered to help you plan yours.)
You're taking a class and the professor encourages the class to come
see him in his office if they have any problems. However, when you go to
see him, he acts very rude and always seems to make you feel that you
are stupid. You're upset at the way he has treated you. (Emotional Support:
Y o u have a friend, Ann, who you've always been able to talk to, and who
knows what's going on. Ann mentioned that if you want to talk about how
you feel about this professor to come see her.) (Instrumental Support: Y o u
have a friend, Ann, who knows a lot about the college's rules on what to
do in situations like this and she also knows what's going on with you and
this professor. She's said that if you want to talk about this situation with
her to come see her.)

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