Sources of social support as determinants of psychiatric morbidity after severe life events: Prospective cohort study of female employees

Abstract

Objective The aim of this study was to study prospectively the associations between sources of social support, life events, and psychiatric morbidity, as explicated in the chronic strain and the stress-buffering hypotheses. Methods Psychiatric morbidity and sources of social support were assessed at Time 1 and 3 years later at Time 2 among 4250 female municipal employees. At Time 2, the participants were also asked about their preceding life events during the year. Results After adjustment for baseline characteristics, low support from one's partner, coworkers, and supervisor at Times 1 and 2 was positively associated with psychiatric morbidity at Time 2 (OR=1.1–1.6). The support of friends at Time 1 lowered the risk of psychiatric morbidity after death or severe illness in the family and after interpersonal conflict. High postevent network heterogeneity also lowered the risk of psychiatric morbidity after financial difficulty. For the remaining 33 combinations between different sources of social support and life events, no corresponding interactions were found. Conclusion The observed associations support the chronic strain hypothesis, but the support for the stress-buffering hypothesis was limited.