Research shows that social support is essential for healthy psychological functioning. Help seeking and social support are soc ial processes shaped by cultural understandings about how need should be expressed, to whom, and in what circumstances. This study used grounded theory methodology to examine how cultural factors regulate help seeking and social support in a sample of 25 Japanese sojourners' wives living in America. Culturally based social edicts such as mutual responsibility and in-group solidarity were found to promote help seeking and social support. In contrast, culturally specific factors such as enryo (polite deference) hierarchy, and the cultural rules governing reciprocity inhibited these behaviors. From these data, a cultural model of social exchange allowing for cultural diversity, is proposed. This model can increase the effectiveness of nursing interventions aimed at community-based health promotion.