The impact on pain and functioning of (i) four therapeutic behaviors that are often encouraged as part of a widely disseminated arthritis patient education program and (ii) three factoriaily derived aspects of social support were examined. The data analyzed were originally collected as part of an evaluation of the efficacy of an arthritis self-management intervention. However, for this secondary analysis, variation in therapeutic behaviors and social support independent of the intervention were of interest. Two aspects of support (viz. loneliness and social contacts) were predictive of subsequent pain while one therapeutic behavior (exercise) was predictive of subsequent functioning. Findings from the present study together with those from the original evaluation suggest that social support and health behavior do influence outcomes. However, natural variation in these predictors appears to be more important than changes, if any, produced by the patient education intervention.