6 Social resources .19 (t = 1.49) Self-eﬃcacy 2 R = .84 Social provisions .43 (t = 2.76) .70 (t = 2.16) Physical health 2 R = .29 .36 (t = 2.76) Mental health 2 R = .19 Figure 4: Test results for the support-eﬃcacy model with cente- narians residing in nursing homes; model ﬁt: Satorra-Bentler χ2 (N = 105; df = 5) = 6.33; P = .28; CFI = .94; RMSEA = .05; SRMR = .06 (using FIML). Parameter estimates are from the standardized solution; endogenous variables were controlled for mental status and education. (β = .70; P = .01). In this model, R2 for physical health was .29; for mental health it was .19, and for self-eﬃcacy it was .84 (see Figure 4). In addition, both mental status and education were signiﬁcant predictors of self-eﬃcacy. Thus, as a supplemental analysis, we computed a model specifying the indirect eﬀect from these control variables (mental status and education) to mental health through self-eﬃcacy. The standardized indirect eﬀect was .49 (P = .02). 4. Discussion This study tested the support-eﬃcacy model [13] for each of three centenarian groups participating in the Georgia Centenarian Study [21]: centenarians residing in private homes, centenarians residing in assisted living facilities, and centenarians residing in nursing homes. A focus of the model is the hypothesized indirect eﬀect of social relations on health outcomes of older adults through the mediating mechanism of self-eﬃcacy. Overall, the study’s results supported the hypothesized model. The mediator, self-eﬃcacy, completely mediated the inﬂuence of social relationships in two of the three models tested on self-report data from centenarians (i.e., those residing in private homes and assisted living facilities). In particular, how the model worked varied by residential status (i.e., private home, assisted living facility, or nursing home); the relationship among the variables for the best ﬁtting model was diﬀerent for each residential status. Three ﬁndings, consistent across the three models, merit discussion. First, our results supported the hypothesized positive inﬂuence of social relationships on the physical and mental health of centenarians. These ﬁndings are consistent with previous research across the life span [20, 63, 64]. However, ambivalent ﬁndings about the valence of social support on psychological outcomes have been reported. For example, perceived support is often beneﬁcial whereas actual received support may be detrimental [65, 66]. We believe our study’s positive ﬁndings for the inﬂuence of social relations on health outcomes for centenarians, regardless of living environment, are best explained by considering the qualitative work of Chen et al. [37]. They developed a grounded theory of elders’ decisions to enter assisted living Journal of Aging Research facilities, including the weighing and balancing of gains and losses “to go where the help is” (page 92)—the anticipated outcome of moving. When losses outweighed gains, they went to the help; they moved to a facility. Such a move often includes cognitive, aﬀective, and physical stressors. Often, a move is perceived as loss of independence and is not preferred to the private home, but is preferred relative to entering a nursing home [38, 40, 67]. These decisions and associated stressors also apply when moving from an assisted living facility to a nursing home. We believe that it is possible that centenarians in our study understood the salubrious role social relations provide (whether perceived or received; see [27]) for their independence and ability to live in a private home setting; such support either delays the need to move toward help (maintaining a level of independence for those in private homes) or for those no longer able to remain in a private home, such support could be eﬀective in the transition from private home to assisted living facility. Thus, the direct and indirect eﬀects of social resources (frequency of contact) and social provisions (types of support provided) were positively (i.e., they were welcomed supports) associated with the mental and physical health of our very old participants. A second ﬁnding, for centenarians in private homes and for centenarians in assisted living facilities, consistent with the model and previous research diﬀerentiating between the eﬀects of social network and social support variables, is the strong inﬂuence of social provisions, compared to the inﬂuence of social resources, primarily on outcomes of well being [36, 68]. Our assessment of social relations tapped the frequency of contact between participants and their network of friends and family, whereas Cutrona and Russell’s Social Provisions Scale [49] was designed to assess the type of support provided by others. Because social provisions were self-reported by participants, the measure likely included their perceptions of available support [69, 70]; it does not necessarily assess support actually provided. We believe that the Social Provisions Scale, with its breadth of functional supports assessed, tapped the appropriate support needed by our participants for the particular stressor experienced, resulting in a strong relationship between the measure and both physical and mental health. Consistent with the hypothesized model and the lit- erature regarding mediation through self-eﬃcacy, was a third noteworthy ﬁnding: the mediating role of self-eﬃcacy between social relations and the health outcomes for cen- tenarians in private homes and assisted living facilities. Intriguingly, for centenarians in assisted living facilities, the inﬂuence of social provisions was completely mediated through self-eﬃcacy. The eﬀect on mental health reaches statistical signiﬁcance for a one-tailed test; the eﬀect on physical health approaches statistical signiﬁcance for a one- tailed test. Cutrona and Russell [49] provided an explanation about the theoretical underpinnings of their Social Provi- sions Scale that helps explain this ﬁnding. Theoretically, both Bandura [31, 71] and Cobb [72, 73] predicted that social support should lead to an individual’s self-assessment of conﬁdence or competency. Such assessments of self-eﬃcacy in turn encourage individuals to attempt diﬃcult tasks, work harder, and persist when facing diﬃcult situations. Thus,