YOUTH 2020 - The position of young people in Slovenia

254 “I understand this social support as someone with whom you can share all your hardships and doubts, maybe problems, whatever is going on in your life. And that person is willing to listen to you and, above all, accepts what you tell them. And that seems crucial to me.” (Aleš, 25 years old, student of Sustainable Development Management) According to Vaux (1988), social support is divided into three basic di- mensions: the sources or actors of social support (part of the social net- work to which the individual turns for help and support), types of social support (individual life situations), and the individual’s subjective as- sessment of the sources and types of social support. Furthermore, social support comes from formal or informal sources (Rausa, 2008). Formal sources of assistance can include institutions (e.g. banks, health institutions), non-profit organizations, or other organiza- tions (e.g. associations, religious organizations) and other organized as- sistance that provides specific services. Informal sources are people who are close to the individual (e.g. family, partner, friends, peers, neigh- bours, and other close people). Formal sources of support establish a pro- fessional relationship with the person seeking social support, while in- formal sources of support are based on emotional ties (Hogan, Linden, and Najarian, 2002). In this study we analysed only two dimensions: the sources and types of social support. Although there are various conceptualizations of types of social support in the literature (see, for example, Vaux, 1988; Wills, 1991), for the purposes of our research we examined the following specific sup- ports relevant for young people: emotional support (‘if you want to talk about personal problems’), financial support (‘if you need more money’), support in case of illness (‘if you need care if you are seriously ill’), and support when looking for a job (‘if you need a job’).