Social support in the workplace may take many forms, and the form it takes may be related to the extent to which it buffers the relationship between occupational stressors and individual strains. A study was conducted to examine social support given to subordinates from their supervisors. Nurses (N=225) from seven hospitals completed measures of role stressors, job satisfaction and other outcomes, social supports, and contents of communications with supervisors. The results revealed that positive and negative work-related communications occurred between supervisors and subordinates, that supervisors and subordinates also talked about non-job related events, and that these three types of communications were often combined. Subordinates' perceptions of available support from their supervisors were primarily related to positive job-related or non-job-related communications and only slightly related to negative job-related communications. Traditional measures of perceived social support had main effects on employee strain; contents of communications with supervisors also had these effects. The findings suggest that the buffering effects of social support may depend in part on the content of communications among potentially supportive people. Future research might examine different stressors, strains, and sources of support. (NB)