Patterns of giving and receiving help during severe winter conditions : a research note

Severe winter conditions and blizzards may cause persons to be stranded, unable to move from one place to another. Being stranded under such conditions can be life-threatening and often requires help. This is a study of giving and receiving help among people who were stranded during severe winter conditions and blizzards in Bowling Green, Ohio, USA and the surrounding countryside in 1976–1977. Mail questionnaire data were collected from the Bowling Green, Ohio telephone directory which included listings from both rural and urban areas. The family, followed by friends and neighbors, were most important in the giving and receiving of help. There was little difference between the responses of rural and urban residents. Propinquity was found to be an important intervening variable.