3~e study- of "social support," especially in relation to health, has emerged
seemingly out of nowhere in the last decade. A search of the Social
Science Citation Index for articles with the term "social support" in
their titles revealed an almost geometric rate of growth in the late 1970s:
an average of 2 such articles per year between 1972 and 1976, 7 in
1977, 10 in 1978, 21 in 1979, and 43 by 1981 (see House and Kahn,
1985; House, 1986). A more recent search revealed continuing, though
more linear, growth in the early 1980s: 50 articles in 1982, 60 in 1983,
73 in 1984, and 110 in 1985.