Social Support is defined as “help in difficult life situations.”
Social support is a concept that is generally understood in an intuitive sense, as the help from other people in a difficult life situation. One of the first definitions was put forward by Sidney Cobb (Cobb, 1976). He defined social support as ‘the individual belief that one is cared for and loved, esteemed and valued, and belongs to a network of communication and mutual obligations’. In the MINDFUL project social support is defined as ‘the perceived availability of people whom the individual trusts and who make one feel cared for and valued as a person’ (MINDFUL, 2008).
Another definition says “Social support is the physical and emotional comfort given to us by our family, friends, co-workers and others.”
The above definition is continued here: http://www.heretohelp.bc.ca/visions/social-support-vol6/social-support