Convoy Model of Social Relations

The Convoy Model of Social Relations is an interdisciplinary concept that describes the formation of social relations and how they affect health and well-being. The term convoy is borrowed from anthropologist David Plath who used the term to describe the birth cohorts of children he observed in Japan. From birth through adulthood, these children were consociates or members of a convoy that provided the indispensable feedback that [Page 327]leads to maturity. Robert Kahn and Toni Antonucci used the term to describe the group of close social partners who surround an individual providing protection, care, and socialization, which in turn influence their health and well-being. The Convoy Model is an integration of developmental, social, and organizational psychology concepts. It strongly emphasizes the life-span cumulative aspects of development and the life course situational context; that is, the roles and organizations. This entry describes the different types of social relations, their antecedents and consequent characteristics, as well as supporting empirical evidence.

The Convoy Model identifies multiple dimensions of social relations: social networks, social support, and support satisfaction or adequacy. Social networks refer to the objective descriptive characteristics of social relations such as age, gender, relationship, and years known. Social support refers to the actual exchange—that is, provision and receipt—of support. Social support has been defined in many ways but generally includes aid, affect, and affirmation. Aid is most commonly understood as tangible support but can also include less tangible support such as advice and information. Examples include lending money, providing sick care, helpful suggestions, and problem solving. Affect refers to emotional support such as love and affection. Affirmation is the communication to the supported person, an affirmation of his or her perspectives, values, or norms. And finally, support satisfaction or adequacy refers to the individual's evaluation of the support he or she receives. This construct is meant to recognize the importance of the psychological evaluation of objective social network structure or support exchanged. For example, one individual might evaluate the receipt of $100 as sufficient support and another consider $1,000 insufficient. Similarly, one expression of love per week might be considered adequate to some, whereas daily expressions of love might be considered woefully inadequate to others.

The original Convoy Model identified two kinds of antecedent characteristics, personal and situational, that fundamentally influence social relations. Personal characteristics refer to individual factors such as age, gender, race/ethnicity, religion, and education. These characteristics affect the type of social relations individuals require, expect, and value. Situational characteristics refer to the norms and expectations of the roles and environment in which the person is situated—the overall context within which the individual lives. Situational characteristics recognize the group or cultural context within which the individual experiences his or her personal characteristics. Examples might include the difference between living in Montana as compared to Manhattan, working in a factory versus at a university, or being on the “Mommy” track rather than the corporate track. The combination of personal and situational factors is important for social relations and health. Thus, for example, being Catholic in Boston, Asian in California, or a high school graduate in a factory town are all very different from being a Catholic in Kansas, Asian in Idaho, or a high school graduate in a high-tech locale such as in the Silicon Valley. Personal and situational characteristics influence the type of social relations that one is most likely to experience. These characteristics are ultimately considered antecedent factors that affect health and well-being, defined broadly to include psychological, physical, and mental health.

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