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Bambina has adapted Litwak’s schema for social support to the unique conditions of online social support. She formulates a multi-level set of group properties that include an individual member’s dedication to the group, three properties of dyads, shared intimacy, reciprocity, and the commonality of cancer roles. and finally, the size of group receiving requests for social support. She deduces hypotheses about the affect of each dimension for requesting and providing support that she subjects to empirical testing.
Bambina’s research compels us to take a careful look at what is going on in internet communications. She contributes a theoretical framework and a methodology appropriate to the task. As is true for any pioneering work, her methodology will invite more research in the area, leading to further development and refinement. The importance of Bambina’s work is that she asks the right questions for a thorough going sociological analysis of computer-mediated social support networks and therefore, points sociological inquiry in the right direction.
Peter Messeri
Associate Professor of Clinical Sociomedical Sciences and Deputy Chair Doctoral Studies, Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health Department of Sociomedical Sciences Columbia University