What forms of social support predict self-rated health?

Background: Social support has been empirically linked to mental and physical health in the veteran population. No known research has examined the sources of social support in relation to physical health in older veterans. The purpose of the current study was to determine which sources of social support are most predictive of self-reported health among older veterans. Methods: Data from the 2014 wave of the Health and Retirement Survey, Psychosocial and Lifestyle Questionnaire, Participant Leave Behind portion was used in a Classification and Regression Tree analysis (CART) of veterans included in the sample (n = 1056). Results: Of veterans who scored greater than or equal to 3.17 in terms of spouse or partner social support, 75% self-reported health as good to excellent. Veterans at the greatest risk of self-reporting fair to poor health scored spouse or partner social support at less than 3.17 and had an annual income of less than $12,680. Conclusion: Though several covariates were included in the analysis of sources of social support, the most salient was spouse or partner social support, income, and friend social support.