Abstract
PurposeTo investigate whether social support is protective for psychotic experiences similarly among poly-victimised adolescent girls and boys.MethodsWe utilised data from the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study, a nationally-representative sample of 2232 UK-born twins. Participants were privately interviewed at age 18 about victimisation, psychotic experiences, and social support during adolescence.ResultsPerceived social support (overall and from friends) was found to be protective against psychotic experiences amongst poly-victimised adolescent girls, but not boys. Though boys were similarly protected by family support.ConclusionsSocial support-focused interventions targeting psychotic phenomena amongst poly-victimised adolescents may be more effective for girls.
Highlights
A lack of social support has been associated with the emergence of psychotic symptoms in the general population [1, 2] and fullblown psychotic disorders [3]
Higher perceived levels of social support were found to be associated with a decreased likelihood of adolescent psychotic experiences amongst those exposed to poly-victimisation
We found a statistically significant interaction between gender and social support, such that total social support was only protective amongst girls but not boys
Summary
A lack of social support has been associated with the emergence of psychotic symptoms (e.g., hearing voices or feeling very paranoid) in the general population [1, 2] and fullblown psychotic disorders [3]. Increased levels of perceived social support have been linked to an absence of psychotic experiences amongst adolescents at high risk due to exposure to multiple forms of victimisation (polyvictimised) [4]. Research has suggested that social support may buffer the effects of stress [5–8], improve self-esteem [9–11], and reduce feelings of loneliness [12, 13], which may all protect against psychotic phenomena. The current study aims to extend this work by exploring whether the protective effects of perceived social support vary by gender in relation to sub-clinical psychotic experiences amongst poly-victimised adolescents in the general population.
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