Perceived social support is known to buer an
individual from the psychological eects of adverse life
events.14 Schultz and Decker19 examined the impact of
social support on adjustment to SCI. These researchers
interviewed 100 middle-aged and elderly spinal cord
injured persons who had been injured on average 20
years earlier. This study found that social support was
a signi®cant factor in this level of life satisfaction.
People who reported high levels of satisfying social
support reported high levels of emotional adjustment.
A signi®cant limitation of this study is the variability
in the cause of spinal cord injury for the participants.
Individuals who had paraplegia or tetraplegia due to
medical conditions such as polio were also included.
As such, this variability makes comparisons with
populations with traumatic injuries tentative.