Perceived teacher unfairness and students' school-based adjustment: Exploring the mediating role of self-handicapping and the moderating role of social support.

Resilience and stigma in mothers of children with emotional and behavioural difficulties

The Role of Social Network and Support in Mental Health Service Use: Findings From the Baltimore ECA Study

To identify groups most likely to benefit from an Expressive Writing (EW) intervention, we examined psychosocial variables as intervention moderators. We hypothesized that EW would be particularly effective for participants with high levels of depressive symptoms and social support at study entry. Patients (n = 277; 60.6% male) with kidney cancer were randomly assigned to either an expressive (EW) or neutral writing (NW) condition. Intervention outcomes included measures of depressive symptoms (CESD), cancer-related symptoms (MDASI), fatigue (BFI), and sleep disturbances (PSQI) assessed at baseline, 1, 4, and 10months later. Moderators were measured at baseline. As hypothesized, depressive symptoms and social support moderated intervention efficacy. When examining both moderators simultaneously, EW appeared to be most effective in terms of cancer-related symptoms (p < 0.05) and depressive symptoms (p < 0.01) for participants with elevated depressive symptoms who received high levels of social support at baseline relative to their counterparts in the NW condition. Moreover, participants in EW with high levels of social support at baseline reported lower levels sleep disturbances (p = 0.005) than their counterparts in NW. Recognition of baseline depressive symptoms and social support as intervention moderators may lead to improved patient selection for EW interventions, as EW may be particularly beneficial regarding QOL outcomes for patients that have social support available including participants with depressive symptoms. EW may not be beneficial, or potentially even contraindicated, for participants lacking social support. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Breaking the cycle: The protective role of perceived social support in the relationship between adverse childhood experiences, emotional dysregulation and depression in university students.

Mixed evidence for the associations among depression, hopelessness, alcohol problems, and suicidal ideation in college students may be due to the influence of social support. A moderated-mediation analysis was conducted to examine relationships among suicide risk factors in 2,034 college students. Social support moderated the relation between depressive symptoms and hopelessness in predicting suicidal thoughts; specifically, the association between depressive symptoms and hopelessness was diminished among those students with high levels of social support. This resulted in attenuated indirect associations between depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation via hopelessness. Alcohol problems were associated with likelihood of experiencing suicidal ideation, but not severity. Social support may be a key variable for suicide prevention among college students.

External fixator treatment (EFT) is an increasingly common yet invasive procedure for adolescents with limb deficiencies, necessitating an intensive rehabilitation regimen that places tremendous demands on the caregivers of adolescents receiving this treatment. This study investigated the role of family functioning and parents' psychological functioning in the psychological adjustment and functional independence of adolescents with limb deficiencies. In addition, differences in psychological adjustment and functional independence were assessed comparing adolescents with limb deficiencies who had received EFT with adolescent with limb deficiencies who had not received EFT. Participants completed standardized questionnaires providing data on medical history, and evaluating family functioning, parents' psychological functioning, child's psychological adjustment, and child's functional independence. The sample was comprised of 46 adolescents with limb deficiencies (36 congenital; 10 acquired), ranging from 11 to 18 years of age. Three multivariate analyses of covariance were used to assess group differences. Six multiple regression analyses were employed to evaluate hypothesized predictors of psychological and orthopedic functioning in this sample. Covariates were determined through preliminary correlation analyses. They included mother's education for CBCL Externalizing and YSR Externalizing analyses; time since last orthopedic surgery in analyses for CBCL Internalizing, as well as child and parent reports of functional independence; number of orthopedic surgeries in analyses for YSR Externalizing; and, sex in analyses for child reports of functional independence. Adolescents with limb deficiencies in this study did not experience more psychological problems compared to a normative sample. No differences in psychological adjustment and functional independence were found between groups. Results also indicated parental distress and family functioning to be important variables in explaining variability in psychological adjustment; however, this pattern of results varied based on reporter (adolescent versus parent). Results further identified a positive relationship between time since adolescent's last orthopedic surgery and functional independence. These findings indicate a role for psychological assessment and intervention targeting patients, parents, and their families in order to optimize rehabilitation and adjustment for adolescents receiving treatment for limb deficiencies.

In recent decades, a high prevalence of mental health problems among adolescents has been reported worldwide. In Vietnam, mental health problems such as emotional and behavioural difficulties are relatively common in the adolescent age group. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of emotional-behavioural problems and prosocial behaviours in Vietnamese adolescents and identify the role of social support in these adolescents' strengths and difficulties. A population sample of 582 adolescents from sixth to ninth grade from four secondary schools in Vietnam voluntarily participated by completing the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (α = .64) and the Social Support Scale (α = .90). The research results revealed that Vietnamese adolescents suffered from considerable levels of emotional-behavioural difficulties and prosocial behaviour problems. Through multible regression analysis, support from their families significantly predicted to decrease students' emotional and behavioural symptoms (β\< 0; p\< .05) and increasing prosocial behaviours (β> 0; p \< .05). In contrast, friend support only contribute to protecting adolescents from behavioural problems (β = -.18; p \< .05) and encouraged prosocial behaviours (β = .22; p \< .05). Family support had a central role in its positive contribution to reducing emotional-behavioural and prosocial behaviour problems. Friend support only decreased behavioural problems and encouraged prosocial behaviours. These results are interpreted that educators could limit adolescents' emotional-behavioural difficulties and encourage prosocial behaviours through social support from their families and friends.

Introduction: Hypertension (HTN) is a major public health problem and a leading cause of cardiovascular diseases and deaths globally. A continuum of HTN care is necessary for people living with HTN since this chronic disease requires comprehensive life-long healthcare management. Several studies have examined the factors influencing the adherence to HTN care. Socio-demographic and economic characteristics are commonly studied as influencing factors of each step of the cascade of HTN care, yet little is known about the effect of social support on the cascade of HTN care. Therefore, our study aims to assess the role of social support on the cascade of HTN care in Cambodia. Method: We performed a population-based survey (5070 individuals aged over 40 and over) to generate a cascade of care for HTN and assess the levels of social support in Cambodia. The cascade shows the patients’ flow in the health system and where they are lost (dropped) along all steps of the cascade from (i) prevalence, (ii) screening, (iii) diagnosis, (iv) treatment in the last 12 months, (v) treatment in the last 3 months, (vi) to being under control. Social support was assessed using the 8-item Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey. Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine the effect of social support (from a family member) on each step of the cascade. Results: Among people living with HTN, 22.4%, 27.0%, 21.6% and 28.9% reported receiving low, medium, high and very high levels of social support respectively. Higher levels of social support were found in female adults, married adults, adults aged over 60, as well as those living in a household of 4 to 5 members and those receiving some or having completed primary education. Participants who received medium and very high levels of social support had two times the odds of receiving treatment for HTN as participants with low levels of support both in the last 12 months and the last 3 months. While, participants who had high level of social support had five times the odds of receiving treatment for HTN (both in the last 12 and 3 months) as participants with low levels of social support. Conclusion: Social support from a family member is strongly associated with treatment compliance in the HTN cascade of care in Cambodia. Our findings suggest an exploration of using social support as a tool to promote adherence to treatment programs for HTN care. Implication for applicability/transferability Families are a potential source of social support for hypertensive patients to overcome social barriers and execute disease management tasks especially for treatment compliance. Promoting social support through a social intervention could be a viable path to improve care for hypertensive patients since chronic illness care poses challenges for isolated patients, but could be made easier with the assistance from family.

Self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (SITBs), encompassing both nonsuicidal self-injury and suicidality, are a growing public health concern in youth. Although maternal depression is a well-established risk factor for psychopathology in offspring, less is known about protective factors that may mitigate this risk. Peer social support, particularly during the transition to adolescence, may play a critical role in reducing risk for SITBs, yet limited research has examined the potential impact of different domains of peer influence (e.g., close friends versus classmates) as specific and distinct facets of the peer environment.In a two-year longitudinal study, we assessed SITBs in 215 children (ages 8-14), half of whom had mothers with a history of major depressive disorder (MDD) during their child's life. We hypothesized that maternal MDD would predict increased risk of SITBs in children but that higher levels of peer social support would buffer this effect.Survival analyses confirmed that children of mothers with MDD were over twice as likely to develop SITBs during the follow-up. Importantly, higher levels of social support from classmates uniquely predicted reduced risk for SITBs in children, even after accounting for the influence of maternal MDD history.Our findings highlight the role of broad peer environments in protecting against SITBs in youth. These results underscore the importance of school-based interventions that foster social inclusion as potential preventive measures for SITBs.

The purpose of this longitudinal correlative study was to explore the degree, compare the differences and to detect the relationships of uncertainty, social support and psychological adjustment for older cancer patients who were undergoing surgery. While the number of the older cancer patients has been increasing, there has been little research exploring their needs with respect to psychological adjustment during cancer treatment. The study used a pre-/postdescriptive design. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 43 patients aged 65-84 from six surgery wards in a medical centre in northern Taiwan from January 2005-May 2005. Participants were interviewed one to two days prior to surgery and interviewed again one to two days before hospital discharge. Demographic data, Mishel's Uncertainty Illness Scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List were used to collect data. Uncertainty varied with cancer stage. At the time of surgery, the patients had moderate levels of uncertainty. There was a significant decrease in uncertainty at the second data collection period before hospital discharge. In these participants, anxiety was significantly associated with past medical history. The participants obtained social support from family members, physicians, nurses, relatives and other patients. Married patients had higher levels of social support than those without a spouse. Significant relationships were found among uncertainty and anxiety and depression. Interestingly, a positive relationship between anxiety and social support after surgery was also identified. Increasing levels of social support could ameliorate the degree of uncertainty, anxiety and depression in older cancer patients. Nurses should provide resources to establish an effective social network to older cancer patients who were being treated surgically. These findings can assist nurses in understanding the psychological adjustment needs among older cancer patients who were undergoing surgery and provide appropriate intervention in nursing care.

The Interplay of Prosocial and Conduct Problem Behaviour: Implications for Developmental and Life-Course Criminology.

BackgroundThe HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to threaten the health and wellbeing of millions in the United States and worldwide. Syndemic theory suggests that HIV/AIDS can cooccur with other afflictions. As close to 20% of US adults live with a mental health condition, it is critical to understand the correlation between HIV risk behaviors and mental health needs, as well as protective factors such as social support in intervening the association between mental distress and HIV risk behaviors. Furthermore, as past research has shown mixed results concerning the function of social support on HIV risks by gender, it is important to conduct a gender-specific analysis.MethodsTo assess the relationship between mental health needs, social support, and HIV risk behaviors, and to assess if social support can be a buffer, weakening the effect of mental health needs on HIV risk, in 2018, we analyzed representative, cross-sectional data from 2016 BRFSS collected from 33,705 individuals from four states in the United States, stratified by gender. Weighted logistic regression analyses, adjusted for age, race, marital status, education, and annual income, assessed the correlation between mental health needs, social support, and HIV risk behaviors. Furthermore, interaction analyses were performed to see if social support modifies the slope of mental health needs as a function of HIV risk behaviors.ResultsFor both genders, the odds of participating in HIV risk behaviors increase with mental health needs and decrease with the level of social support. Furthermore, social support mitigates the association between mental health needs and HIV risk behavior involvement for males, as males receiving high level of social support have least odds of HIV risk behaviors relative to males receiving low level of social support. Notably, for females, social support does not serve as a buffer against HIV risk behaviors when their mental health needs increase.ConclusionThe study contributes to the knowledge base of HIV prevention and highlights the important role of mental health and social support against HIV risk behaviors when developing gender-specific prevention strategies.

The purpose of this study was to examine three competing models of the relations among perceived discrimination, social support, and indicators of psychological adjustment in a sample of 135 African American college students. The three competing models, social support buffering, social support mobilization, and social support deterioration, were tested within a regression framework. The buffering model, which predicted that social support would interact with perceived discrimination such that individuals with high levels of social support would be protected from the harmful effects of discrimination, was not supported. The social support mobilization model, which predicted that support networks would mobilize to support individuals exposed to discrimination, was also not supported. Support was only obtained for the social support deterioration model, which predicted that social support would decrease for those exposed to discrimination. Perceived racial discrimination was associated with lower perceptions of social support, greater symptoms of depression, and lower levels of life satisfaction.

We examined the mediating role of depression and anxiety on the relationship between fear of disease progression (FoP) and antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence and the moderating role of social support in the FoP-depression/anxiety-ART adherence relationship in persons with HIV/AIDS (PWHA). 202 PWHA completed self-report measures. Simple mediation and moderated mediation analyses were performed. FoP was directly and negatively associated with ART adherence, and the mediating role of depression in this relationship was significant. Indirect effect of FoP mediated by anxiety on ART adherence was not significant. The moderating effect of social support was significant in the FoP-depression pathway, while the indirect effect of FoP on ART adherence mediated by depression was greatest at a higher level of social support and lower level of FoP. The results suggest the relevance of high FoP and depression-mediated FoP in ART adherence and social support may attenuate the negative impact of FoP.

Depressive Symptoms and Suicide Risk: A Moderate Mediation