Social network factors as mediators of mental health and psychological distress.

Abstract

Although mental health (MH) is overall strongly associated with psychological distress (PD), this association is very weak for the sample with high PD. This relationship remains understudied. This study examines the association between MH and PD and whether this association is mediated by social network (SN) factors for individuals with high PD. Data were taken from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia study ( N = 756). MH was measured using the MH sub-scale of the general health survey (Short Form (SF)-36) and PD was measured using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10). The SN measures were derived from the self-completion questionnaire. Using bootstrap mediation analysis, we tested whether the association between MH and PD is mediated by SN factors. The correlation between MH and PD was r = -.410 ( p < .001). The mediational analysis results show that social isolation mediates the association between MH and PD with an indirect effect of β = -0.0070 (confidence interval (CI) = -0.0133 to -0.0023). Moreover, social connections also mediated the association between MH and PD with an indirect effect of β = -0.0073 (CI = -0.0141 to -0.0028). This study has practical implications for the design of social policies that attempt to reduce social isolation and enhance social connectedness to protect MH.