Number Of Social Support Research Articles

Factors Predicting the Quality of Life of University Students in Japan Amidst COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, classes and club activities in Japanese universities have been canceled; this may increase students' perceived stress and adversely affect their quality of life. This study investigated the factors that influence Japanese university students' quality of life during the pandemic. An online questionnaire collating data related to demographic characteristics, the perceived stress scale (PSS), sense of coherence (SOC), number of social supports, and quality of life (Short Form Health Survey; SF-8) was distributed to university students. Participants were divided into two groups: those who entered university before (seniors) and after (juniors) the onset of the pandemic. Their scores on the two sub-domains (physical and mental) of the SF-8 were evaluated. Multiple regression analysis was performed to identify factors associated with the composite mental summary of the SF-8. Regression analysis indicated that the predictor model of the composite mental summary differed between juniors and seniors. Among seniors, the composite mental summary was significantly indicated by the composite physical summary (β = 0.549, p < 0.0001) and PSS (β = 0.422, p < 0.0001). Among juniors, it was significantly indicated by the composite physical summary (β = 0.531, p < 0.0001), PSS (β = 0.390, p < 0.0001), and number of social supports (β = −0.148, p = 0.006). The factors associated with quality of life differed between seniors and juniors. Universities must provide opportunities for students to find more friends, especially for juniors who have limited socialization opportunities owing to the pandemic.

Psychometric Validation of a Scale to Assess Culturally-Salient Aspects of HIV Stigma Among Women Living with HIV in Botswana: Engaging "What Matters Most" to Resist Stigma.

Perceived stigma deters engagement in HIV care and is powerfully shaped by culture. Yet few stigma measures consider how cultural capabilities that signify "full personhood" could be engaged to resist stigma. By applying a theory conceptualizing how culturally-salient mechanisms can worsen or mitigate HIV stigma in relation to "what matters most" (WMM), we developed the WMM Cultural Stigma Scale for Women Living with HIV in Botswana (WMM-WLHIV-BW) and psychometrically evaluated it among 201 respondents with known and unknown HIV status. The two subscales, Cultural Factors Shape Stigma (CFSS) and Cultural Capabilities Protect against Stigma (CCPS) were reliable (both [Formula: see text]). Among WLHIV, the CFSS Subscale showed initial construct validity with depressive symptoms (r = .39, p = .005), similar to an established HIV stigma scale, whereas the CCPS Subscale showed initial construct validity with self-esteem (r = .32, p = .026) and social support number (r = .29, p = .047), suggesting that achieving local cultural capabilities mitigates stigma and is linked with positive psychosocial outcomes. This culturally-derived scale could help WLHIV in Botswana experience improved stigma-related outcomes.

Mental health and social support

The present study was undertaken to investigate the effect of social support on mental health. A total of 100 adult respondents (50 normal, 50 mental patients) of age ranging from 18 to 45 were selected as the sample of the study. The Bangla version of Social Support Scale &amp; Mental Health Questionnaire or GHQ-12 was used in the study. Three aspects of social support were measured: number of social support (SSN), importance of social support (SSI) and satisfaction of social support (SSS). Results of the present study indicated that normal and mental patients differed significantly from each other in terms of social support. This means that the more the social support the better was the respondents’ mental health. The result also indicated that normal people had the better mental health than mental patients. Gender had no significant effect on normal &amp; mental patients. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/cujbs.v3i1.13410 The Chittagong Univ. J. B. Sci.,Vol. 3(1&amp;2):95-107, 2008

Caring for older people: Does day care benefit carers?

This study examined the benefits to carers of a day care facility for older people, using a stress model of care as a framework. Participants were accessed through older people themselves, using convenience sampling. A semi-structured interview was used to obtain demographic details, the extent of assistance provided, and perceived needs of the carer. Carers completed measures of carer burden, psychological distress, perceived social support and coping styles. Although comments on the day centre were generally positive, attendance did not alleviate carer burden or distress, as measured here. Carer burden and support satisfaction were independently related to, and affected, psychological distress. Coping styles and perceived number of social supports were consistently unrelated to burden or distress. Results are discussed in relation to previous literature, and implications for service delivery considered, with particular reference to services for carers.

Stress, depression, workplace and social supports and burnout in intellectual disability support staff

Staff providing support to people with intellectual disabilities are exposed to stressful work environments which may put them at an increased risk of burnout. A small prior literature has examined predictors of burnout in disability support staff, but there is little consensus. In this study, we examined direct and indirect associations between work stressors (i.e. challenging client behaviour), staff emotional response to the behaviour (i.e. perceived stress, anxiety, depression), social and organisational support resources, and staff burnout. A short survey examined client behaviour, staff psychological stress, anxiety, depression, social support (number, satisfaction), organisational support and burnout in 80 disability support staff in a community setting. Burnout levels were similar to or slightly lower than normed values for human services staff. Cross-sectional regression analyses indicated that depression symptoms and organisational support were related to worse emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation, whereas less social support was related to less personal accomplishment. Social support satisfaction (but not social support number or organisational support) moderated between high psychological stress to less emotional exhaustion. Taken together, these results suggest that depression symptoms and low organisational support were frequently concurrent with burnout symptoms. Furthermore, worker's personal and organisational supports may have helped bolster their sense of personal accomplishment, and buffered against the potential for emotional exhaustion.

The Link Between Homeless Women's Mental Health and Service System Use

The Link Between Homeless Women's Mental Health and Service System Use

Predictors and Moderators of Psychological Distress in Mothers of Children with Pervasive Developmental Disorders

ABSTRACT This study explored potential predictors of psychological distress and moderators of the relation between parenting stress and psychological distress in mothers of children with pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs). Ninety-seven mothers of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders completed measures assessing children's functional impairment, parenting stress, number of social supports, satisfaction with social support, parenting sense of competence, number of coping strategies, and maternal psychological distress. Consistent with hypotheses, parenting competence and satisfaction with social support were negatively related to maternal distress. However, number of coping strategies and number of social supports were not significantly related to distress. Regression analyses revealed that number of social supports augmented, rather than moderated, the relation between a composite of children's functional impairment/parenting stress and maternal distress; no other variable significantly moderated this relation. Based on the findings, possible modifications to the existing stress-coping models are considered for mothers of children with autism spectrum disorders, and implications for service providers are discussed.

Nonviolent Offenders’ and College Students’ Attachment and Social Support Behaviors: Implications for Counseling

This study examines the relationships between adult attachment orientations and the ability to seek social support as factors in mediating behavior. Data were collected on non violent offenders (n = 57) and college students (n = 89). The results indicated the non-normative group of nonviolent offenders reported being more securely attached and having more satisfaction with their social supports than the normative group of college students. Fewer college students reported being securely attached than the nonviolent offenders but had a larger number of social supports. In the insecure categories, nonviolent offenders reported being more dismissively attached whereas college students reported being preoccupied in their attachment orientation. The study suggests that attachment and social-support-seeking behaviors across different populations may be potential factors in designing counseling services that are used for risk classification and needs assessment.

Trauma, Social Support, and Mental Health Outcomes in a Community Sample of New Zealand Military Veterans

The relationship between social support, mental health, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology was investigated in a sample of 229 former New Zealand military personnel. It was hypothesised that veterans reporting greater satisfaction with their social support networks would also report better mental health and lower levels of PTSD symptomatology, and that social support would buffer the relationship between trauma and PTSD. The number of social supports was expected to be unrelated to both PTSD and mental health. Among the subsample of combat veterans (N = 166), results from multiple regression analyses revealed that satisfaction with social support was significantly related to PTSD severity but unrelated to general mental health. The moderating model of social support on the relationship between trauma and PTSD was not supported in hierarchical regression analysis in the total sample (N = 229). Methodological limitations and other explanations for these results are discussed.

The characteristics of asymptomatic female adolescents at high risk for depression: the baseline assessment from a prospective 8-year study

Objective: This longitudinal 8-year study assesses potential predictors of major depressive disorder (MDD) in a cohort of healthy adolescent females at high familial risk for MDD. The objective of this study was to ascertain whether risk factors for female onset MDD would differentiate youth at high or usual risk for MDD, prior to the onset of depressive symptomology. Method: Subjects (ages 12–15 years) were assigned to a high ( n=43) or usual ( n=40) risk group according to maternal history of MDD. Depressive symptomatology (Beck Depression Inventory, Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression), pubertal development (Pubertal Developmental Staging Questionnaire), social support (Social Support Scale), and cognitive vulnerability (Depressive Experiences Questionnaire) were assessed. Results: High risk and usual risk group demonstrated no significant differences in demographic variables such as age, body mass index, and grade. Significantly more youth in the high risk group ( n=40, 93%) had started menstruation, compared to youth in the usual risk group ( n=31, 77.5%). There were no significant differences between the groups on measures of dysphoric cognitive style, perceived overall number of social supports, or satisfaction with social support. Conclusion: Females at high familial risk for the onset of depression have significant differences in pubertal development, but not in demographics, depressive symptoms, social supports, or dysphoric cognitive style, when compared to females at usual risk for depression. These findings suggest that in prevention trials for depression in asymptomatic young women no non-biological risk factors for MDD aid in identifying females at higher risk for MDD.

SHORT‐ AND LONG‐TERM HOMELESSNESS AND ADOLESCENTS' SELF‐ESTEEM, DEPRESSION, LOCUS OF CONTROL AND SOCIAL SUPPORTS

The study investigated the effect of length of homelessness, (less than three months as against six months or longer), on four variables: self‐esteem, depression, locus of control and social supports. Respondents, (50 homeless adolescents, 25 male and 25 female, aged between 16–21), completed four questionnaires. Multivariate Analysis of Variance indicated that a combination of the four variables was dependent on the length of homelessness. The short‐term homeless group reported significantly higher levels of self‐esteem and significantly lower levels of depression compared with the long‐term homeless. Furthermore, the long‐term homeless group scored towards a more external locus of control, as compared with the short‐term homeless. While no significant difference was found between the two groups in the number of social supports, the short‐term homeless group reported significantly greater levels of satisfaction with their supports. We discuss the implications of these findings.

Relationship between Depression, Anxiety, Sense of Coherence, Social Support and Religious Involvement in a Small Rural Community Affected by Industrial Relations Conflict

The paper reports a study of stress responses in workers at a sawmill in a small rural community which had been affected by prolonged industrial relations conflict. Workers went on strike in July 1997 over a dispute over contributions to a provident fund and there was much conflict and hardship in the community in the ensuing months. In December, a large sample of workers completed a set of scales which measured anxiety, depression, specific impacts of the strike and three stress response moderators (social support, sense of coherence [SOC] and religious practice). In a factor analysis, two factors were identified. The first was interpreted as a “response to the strike” factor. The positive pole of this factor was associated with having difficulty coping with the stress of the strike, being sensitive to the negative impact of unfair labour practices, responding positively to trade union activity and having a larger number of social supports. The second factor was interpreted as representing “negative versus positive cognitive set”. The positive pole of this factor was associated with higher levels of anxiety, depression and somatic symptoms and low levels of SOC and involvement in religious practice. Although the correlational methodology does not allow for the demonstration that particular variables served as stress response moderators, the results suggested that response to the strike was largely independent of the stress response moderators and was probably mediated by other social and interpersonal factors. The inverse relation between anxiety and depression, on the one hand, and SOC, on the other, replicates previous findings and is discussed in terms of incompatibility of competing cognitive sets.

The behavioral and emotional problems of former unaccompanied refugee children 3–4 years after their return to Vietnam

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine the behavioral and emotional problems of former unaccompanied refugee children who had repatriated to Vietnam from refugee centers in Hong Kong and South East Asia. The children were compared with a matched sample of children who had never left Vietnam. Method: The participants consisted of 455 Vietnamese children aged between 10 and 22 years; 238 of the children had formerly resided in refugee camps without their parents. Data were collected using the Achenbach Youth Self-Report, the Cowen Perceived Self-Efficacy scale, a Social Support scale as well as an Exposure to Trauma scale. Results: No significant difference was found between the two groups of children on the YSR Total Score. The former refugee children had significantly lower Externalizing scores and failed marginally to report significantly higher Internalizing scores than the local children. The study showed that the perceived self-efficacy, number of social supports and experience of social support did not differ between the two groups of children. Further analysis showed that a significant interaction between the immigration status of the children and the children’s subjective perception of their current standard of living explained the differences in the YSR. Conclusion: The results suggest that the experience of living without parents in a refugee camp does not lead to increased behavioral and emotional problems in the immediate years after repatriation.

Academic stress, self-efficacy, social support, and health behaviours in female Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) students

AbstractThis study examined academic stress in female Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) students in terms of somatic symptoms and mood disturbance before, during, and after the midyear examination period and also examined the role of self-efficacy, number of social supports, social support satisfaction, and health behaviours in mediating the effects of stress on symptoms and mood disturbance. It was hypothesised that (a) student would report increased somatic symptoms and mood disturbance during the examination period and that (b) self-efficacy, social support (number and satisfaction), and health behaviours would account for a significant proportion of variance for somatic symptoms and mood disturbance before, during, and after the exam period. The participants were 51 VCE students from a large Catholic girls’secondary college in Melbourne. Four weeks before the exam period, the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale, Reported Health Behaviours Checklist, Short Form Social Support Questionnaire, Symptoms Checklist, and Profile of Mood States were administered.The Symptoms Checklist and Profile of Mood States were administered again during the exam week and four weeks after the exam period. Statistical analyses showed that the VCE examination period was associated with significantly increased self-reports of somatic symptoms and mood disturbances that were strongly indicative of high levels of stress. Self-efficacy was found to have a weak role in mediating the stress response during the exam week. Social support did not account for any of the variation in academic stress. Health behaviours accounted for a small but significant proportion of the variance in stress after the exam period. It was concluded that there is a need to study other factors that may attenuate the academic stress response in adolescent secondary school students. The perceptual and cognitive appraisal of academic stressors is suggested as an area that may be worthy of examination.The implications of the findings are discussed in terms of the impact that academic stress may have on adolescents’ health during this critical period of development.

Life Adjustment of an At-Risk Population: A Ten-Year Follow-Up Of Urban African-American Teens

Variables influencing life adjustment for a group of inner- city African-American women were examined. Seventy subjects were drawn from 393 participants in a 2-year study of teenage pregnancy conducted in the early 1980's at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. A modified longitudinal design was used to explore the long-term consequences of minority status and urban poverty. Standardized measures and a semi-structured interview were used to assess the criterion variable of life adjustment. Adolescent childbearing history, social class index, educational attainment. and household structure (e.g., single parent, female-headed), as well as number of life event stressors in adulthood, were examined in relationship to quality of adult adjustment. Protective mechanisms hypothesized to mediate the effects of these risk factors were dispositional traits - personality and self esteem measured in adolescence and adult temperament - and dependable sources of social sup- port. The principal findings were that the distress component of temperament explained the largest proportion of variability in adjustment score, followed by the number of social supports, and the number of life event stressors. The sociability aspect of temperament came close to achieving significance at the .OS level. This study extends the resiliency literature to a sample of inner-city African-American women, augmenting this emerging area of research and confirming the utility of Garmenzy's (1991) triad of protective factors as a means of conceptualizing buffers against life stress.

Psychological functioning and substance abuse before and after the 1992 Los Angeles riot in a community sample of women.

An ongoing study of interventions designed to increase nontraditional social supports among women at high risk for HIV infection was in the field during the 1992 Los Angeles riot in those neighborhoods most affected by the urban unrest. Using data from structured interviews, the psychosocial characteristics, drug abuse patterns, and distress levels among the women who were recruited for the project in the six months before and after the riot were examined. While substance abuse levels among participants did not increase or decrease as a function of the riot, there were a smaller number of social supports and marginally greater levels of already high psychological distress. Women in the community specifically mentioned a lack of social supports from counselors available in affected areas after the riot. An ethnographic analysis discusses the experience of the participants in the community during the same period of time. Problems in social supports are pointed out. The results are discussed in terms of a general theory of service provision by increasing nontraditional social supports, especially immediately after a major cataclysm.

The relationship of life adversity, social support, and coping to hospitalization with major depression.

We evaluated the relationship between life events, social support, coping, and depression in 27 male inpatients meeting the requirements for Research Diagnostic Criteria major depressive disorder and in 35 age- and sex-matched nonpatients. Overall, the hospitalized depressed patients reported significantly more events and difficulties than did the controls, but this difference in statistical significance disappeared after excluding from analysis "non-independent" happenings which could have been brought on by depression. More hospitalized depressed patients (23 of 27, or 85%) than controls (8 of 35, or 22.9%) experienced markedly threatening events and difficulties ("marked adversities") in the 6 months before their interview. The depressed group also reported having significantly fewer social supports, being less satisfied with the emotional component of this support, and using more emotion-focused coping than the controls. A discriminant analysis predicted depressive status from a combination of marked adversities, reduced number of social supports, and greater use of emotion-focused coping. The results indicate that the relationship of life events to depression is complex. The excess number of events might be partly a product of dysfunctional behavior that "produces" depression-related events which might, in turn, exacerbate depression; simultaneously, patients are more likely to experience highly adverse events which might precipitate the depression in the first place. Reduced social supports and the use of emotion-focused coping appear to also be associated with hospitalization for major depression.

A Hmong Adaptation of the Beck Depression Inventory

We developed the Hmong Adaptation of the Beck Depression Inventory (HABDI) and evaluated the instrument's psychometric characteristics. Also examined was the relationship between depression and demographic variables such as age, sex, length of stay in America, English-speaking ability, and social support in Hmong refugees. One hundred twenty-three Hmong living in Fresno County, between the ages of 18 and 66, participated in the study. The new measure demonstrated a high coefficient alpha (.93), and test-retest reliability (.92), and a significant mean score difference between the nondepressed and the depressed groups. Individual items were distributed evenly and correlated highly with the total depression score. The HABDI correctly identified 94% of depressed and 78% of nondepressed in the Hmong sample. The results suggest that quality of social support and years of education play important roles in buffering Hmong refugees against depression, whereas length of stay in America and number of social supports do not.

The Emotional Impact of Caring for the Chronically Ill

Thirty-two family caregivers of persons with Alzheimer's disease and 30 caregivers of persons with cancer were compared cross-sectionally to determine whether the type of illness cared for affected the emotional state of the caregiver and to identify correlates of both undesirable and desirable emotional outcomes. No prominent differences in negative or positive emotional states were found between the two groups. Correlates of negative and positive emotional status were identified. They include caregiver personality variables, the feeling that one is supported by one's religious faith, and the number of social supports.

Assessing social support: The Social Support Questionnaire.

Abstract : A measure of social support, the Social Support Questionnaire (SSQ), is described and four empirical studies employing it are described. The SSQ yields scores for (a) number of social supports, and (b) satisfaction with social support that is available. Three of the studies deal with the SSQ's psychometric properties, its correations with measures of personality and adjustment, and the relationship of the SSQ to positive and negative life changes. The fourth study was an experimental investigation of the relationship between social support and persistence in working on a complex, frustrating task. The research reported suggests that the SSQ is a reliable instrument, and that social support is (1) more strongly related to positive than negative life changes, (2) more related in a negative direction to psychological discomfort among women than men, and (3) an asset in enabling a person to persist at a task under frustrating conditions. Research and clinical implications are discussed. (Author)