Why is enacted social support associated with increased distress? Using simulation to test two possible sources of spuriousness

Linking social reward responsiveness and affective responses to the social environment: An ecological momentary assessment study

Social support is a key predictor of well-being, but not everyone experiences mental health benefits from receiving it. However, given that a growing number of interventions are based on social support, it is crucial to identify the features that make individuals more likely to benefit from social ties. Emerging evidence suggests that neural responses to positive social feedback (i.e., social reward) might relate to individual differences in social functioning, but potential mechanisms linking these neural responses to psychological outcomes are yet unclear. This study examined whether neural correlates of social reward processing, indexed by the reward positivity (RewP), relate to individuals' affective experience following self-reported real-world positive social support events. To this aim, 193 university students (71% females) underwent an EEG assessment during the Island Getaway task and completed a 10-day ecological momentary assessment where participants reported their positive and negative affects (PA, NA) nine times a day and the count of daily positive and negative events. Experiencing a higher number of social support positive events was associated with higher PA. The RewP moderated this association, such that individuals with greater neural response to social feedback at baseline had a stronger positive association between social support positive events count and PA. Individual differences in the RewP to social feedback might be one indicator of the likelihood of experiencing positive affect when receiving social support.

Perceived Relational Support Is Associated With Everyday Positive, But Not Negative, Affectivity in a U.S. Sample

Research suggests that perceived social support bolsters emotional well-being. We tested whether perceived support from friends, family, and spouses/partners was associated with reduced negative and greater positive affectivity (i.e., everyday affective baseline), and whether perceived strain in these relationships had opposite effects, accounting for age and relevant covariates. Using data from the third waves of the Midlife in the United States survey and National Study of Daily Experience (n = 1,124), we found negative affectivity was not tied to relational support nor strain, but instead was associated positively with neuroticism and negatively with conscientiousness. In contrast, positive affectivity was related positively to support from friends and family, conscientiousness, and extroversion, and negatively to strain among partners and neuroticism. Exploratory analyses within second-wave Midlife in Japan data (n = 657) suggest patterns for future cross-cultural study. Some relationship dynamics may vary, but perceived support might enhance emotional well-being by bolstering positive, rather than mitigating negative, emotionality.

Mental Distress during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study of Women Receiving the Comprehensive Social Security Allowance in Hong Kong

Welfare recipients were often considered the least deserving of COVID-related support. Despite the recent attention paid to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, few studies have explored the mental distress experienced by welfare recipients. This cross-sectional study on female Comprehensive Social Security Allowance recipients in Hong Kong aimed to explore their level of mental distress and its association with a range of risk factors specific to welfare recipients. Hence, 316 valid cases from a local community center responded to our online survey. We found that 52.3%, 23.4%, and 78% of the participants showed moderate to extremely severe depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms, respectively. A higher level of mental distress was associated with having a psychiatric diagnosis, poorer social, and greater concerns over disciplining children, the living environment, daily expenses and being infected by COVID-19. Unexpectedly, being married, having a permanent residence, and having a job were not significant protective factors for this group. The models explained 45.5%, 44.6%, and 52.5% of the overall variance in the level of depression, anxiety, and stress (p < 0.01), respectively. Our findings have important implications for supporting female welfare recipients during a public health crisis and may help frontline staff and professionals provide prompt assistance to this group in need.

How Can Organizational Leaders Help? Examining the Effectiveness of Leaders' Support During a Crisis

Organizational leaders can make a large, positive impact on their employees during crises. However, existing research demonstrates that social support is not always effective in helping employees cope with stress, and existing research has not fully identified features of support attempts that determine their effectiveness. Using mixed methods, the authors investigate the efficacy of organizational leaders' support efforts during a crisis. In the first study, 571 employees (196 university administrative staff, 192 licensed nurses, and 183 licensed engineers) described actions their leaders engaged in to support them during a global pandemic. Nine themes differentiated helpful from unhelpful leadership support: autonomy, changes, communication, personal resources, safety, timing, tone, work equipment, and workload. Study 2 used a quantitative methodology (162 licensed nurses and 239 licensed engineers) to demonstrate that leadership actions employees deemed as helpful in Study 1 were associated with less employee burnout and fewer physical symptoms. Drawing from emerging social support literature and the stressor-strain model, the findings inform optimal leadership support practices during crises.

Harmonious personality and work-family conflicts: The multiple mediating roles of social support and self-control

This study aimed to examine the multiple mediating roles of social support and self-control in the relationship between harmonious personality and work-family conflict. A total of 143 Chinese adults (137 male, 95.8%; aged 30.25 ± 7.85 years) participated in this longitudinal study. Data were collected at three time points, at intervals of 1 month. Self-report questionnaires measuring social demographics and harmonious personality (Time 1), self-control and social support (Time 2), and work-family conflict (Time 3) were administered. Self-control and work-family conflict were negatively correlated. The relationship between harmony and work-family conflict was mediated by self-control and social support. Possible paths were self-control and multiple mediation by social support and self-control. Our results confirmed the multiple mediating roles of social support and self-control in the relationship between harmonious personality and work-family conflict. To achieve a better work-family balance, it is important not only to establish a harmonious interpersonal perspective and to enhance the social support from employers, colleagues, and family but also to ensure adequate self-control resources.

A longitudinal study on social support, social participation, and older Europeans' Quality of life

The association between quality of life (QoL) and social relationships is well established. This paper further analyses whether and how participation in social activities as well as providing and receiving social support, independently, are associated with QoL among the older population in 16 European countries. QoL was measured using the CASP-12 scale. The baseline data came from Wave 6 and the outcome from Wave 7 of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). The associations of interest were analysed using multivariable linear regression. The effect of possible non-ignorable dropout was tested. Then, doubly robust estimation and sensitivity analyses for unobserved confounding were performed to evaluate the possible causal interpretation of the associations found. Our findings show that participation in at least one of the socially productive activities was positively associated with QoL at two-year follow-up (Average Causal Effect, ACE: 0.474; 95%CI: 0.361, 0.587). The association was stronger among women, people aged 75+, and those in the Southern European region. Providing social support had a positive association with QoL, but only among people aged 75+ (ACE: 0.410; 95%CI: 0.031, 0.789). Conversely, receiving social support had a negative association (ACE: -0.321; 95%CI: -0.448, -0.195) with QoL, especially for men, people aged 75+, and those in Eastern European countries. Sensitivity analyses for unobserved confounders showed that the associations found cannot be attributed to causal effects.

Invisible Social Support and Invisible Social Control in Dual-smoker Couple's Everyday Life: A Dyadic Perspective

BACKGROUND

Invisible exchange processes (i.e., invisible support, invisible control) are commonly operationalized as support or control provided by a partner, but unnoticed by the recipient, and have been reported to be beneficially related to affect. However, studies have almost exclusively focused on affect as an outcome and rather neglected other outcomes, such as health behavior. One study so far demonstrated a coupling of invisible support and increased unhealthy behavior.

PURPOSE

The present study aimed to investigate differences in invisible exchanges within a dyadic context of heterosexual, romantic dual-smoker couples. We tested whether women's and men's invisible exchanges were associated with negative affect and smoking in everyday life of dual-smoker couples.

METHODS

In a dyadic daily diary study, invisible emotional and instrumental support, invisible positive and negative control, negative affect, and daily smoking were independently assessed in both partners of 83 dual-smoker couples after a joint self-set quit date.

RESULTS

Analyses based on the two-intercept model revealed that at the between-person level invisible support and control were both related to less negative affect, albeit in men only, and were unrelated to smoking behavior. At the within-person level, invisible exchanges were on the whole unrelated to negative affect and smoking.

CONCLUSIONS

Invisible support and invisible control may serve as protective buffers for negative affect in a health-behavior change context for male partners of dual-smoker couples. Future research should clarify under what conditions invisible exchanges unfold positive effects on partners' well-being and health behavior in different health contexts.

Older Adults' Empathy and Daily Support Exchanges

Older adults' empathy may shape the frequency and types of support that they exchange with their social partners as well as the implications of these exchanges. This study drew on the Daily Experiences and Well-being Study, which included adults aged 65 and over and tracked them across 5 to 6 days using mobile phone surveys. Participants (n = 293) rated their empathy and reported their daily support exchanges (e.g., emotional support, instrumental support, advice) as well as mood. Findings showed that more empathic older adults provided each type of support more often. They also received more emotional support than less empathic older adults. Moreover, older adults' empathy moderated the associations between providing support and their daily mood. More empathic older adults maintained their mood regardless of whether they provided support. By contrast, less empathic older adults reported reduced positive mood on days when they provided emotional support and increased positive mood when they provided instrumental support. Greater empathy is associated with more frequent support exchanges; however, more empathic older adults appear immune to such exchanges in terms of their mood. Interestingly, less empathic older adults may find providing emotional support draining but instrumental support rewarding, probably because they are less equipped to cope with others' emotions.

Social Support and Common Dyadic Coping in Couples' Dyadic Management of Type II Diabetes: Protocol for an Ambulatory Assessment Application

Background

Type II diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a common chronic disease. To manage blood glucose levels, patients need to follow medical recommendations for healthy eating, physical activity, and medication adherence in their everyday life. Illness management is mainly shared with partners and involves social support and common dyadic coping (CDC). Social support and CDC have been identified as having implications for people’s health behavior and well-being. Visible support, however, may also be negatively related to people’s well-being. Thus, the concept of invisible support was introduced. It is unknown which of these concepts (ie, visible support, invisible support, and CDC) displays the most beneficial associations with health behavior and well-being when considered together in the context of illness management in couple’s everyday life. Therefore, a novel ambulatory assessment application for the open-source behavioral intervention platform MobileCoach (AAMC) was developed. It uses objective sensor data in combination with self-reports in couple’s everyday life.

Objective

The aim of this paper is to describe the design of the Dyadic Management of Diabetes (DyMand) study, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (CR12I1_166348/1). The study was approved by the cantonal ethics committee of the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland (Req-2017_00430).

Methods

This study follows an intensive longitudinal design with 2 phases of data collection. The first phase is a naturalistic observation phase of couples’ conversations in combination with experience sampling in their daily lives, with plans to follow 180 T2DM patients and their partners using sensor data from smartwatches, mobile phones, and accelerometers for 7 consecutive days. The second phase is an observational study in the laboratory, where couples discuss topics related to their diabetes management. The second phase complements the first phase by focusing on the assessment of a full discussion about diabetes-related concerns. Participants are heterosexual couples with 1 partner having a diagnosis of T2DM.

Results

The AAMC was designed and built until the end of 2018 and internally tested in March 2019. In May 2019, the enrollment of the pilot phase began. The data collection of the DyMand study will begin in September 2019, and analysis and presentation of results will be available in 2021.

Conclusions

For further research and practice, it is crucial to identify the impact of social support and CDC on couples’ dyadic management of T2DM and their well-being in daily life. Using AAMC will make a key contribution with regard to objective operationalizations of visible and invisible support, CDC, physical activity, and well-being. Findings will provide a sound basis for theory- and evidence-based development of dyadic interventions to change health behavior in the context of couple’s dyadic illness management. Challenges to this multimodal sensor approach and its feasibility aspects are discussed.

International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)

PRR1-10.2196/13685

Benefits of daily support visibility versus invisibility across the adult life span

Amid growing disagreement about the benefits of visible and invisible support, we tested daily associations among support visibility and changes in individual and relational well-being in young adult newlyweds (Study 1) and older married couples (Study 2). To extend past research, we assessed emotional and practical support visibility in 3 contexts (context-general, stress-related, and goal-related) each day. In both samples, reporting context-general or goal-related support receipt predicted increases in personal and relational well-being day-to-day. Further, direct comparison between visible and invisible support days revealed relative personal and relational benefits associated with visible support days. In contrast, reporting stress-related support receipt was related to decreases in personal well-being in both samples, despite increases in relational well-being. This relative personal benefit associated with invisible stress-related support is consistent with past work showing benefits of invisible support for people experiencing major stressors. The current research highlights the need for a nuanced approach to understanding support visibility. Although invisible support may be preferable to protect self-efficacy and prevent distress in some situations (high stress or stressor-related support contexts), its benefits may be less wide-ranging than originally thought. In nonstress contexts and for relational outcomes, visible support may instead prove advantageous. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Coping With Depressive Symptoms in Young Adults: Perceived Social Support Protects Against Depressive Symptoms Only Under Moderate Levels of Stress

Introduction: The interrelationship between social support, depressive symptoms, stress and self-esteem in young adults remains unclear. This study aims to test the mediating role of self-esteem in the relationship between social support and depressive symptoms and the moderating role of perceived stress in the relationship between the two. This is important to inform components of future intervention development targeting youth depression.

Methods: Three hundred forty-four (N = 344) young adults in Cyprus aged 17–26 (78% female) completed measures of self-esteem, social support, depressive symptoms, and perceived stress. Structural equation models were used to examine the interactions between social support and depressive psychopathology, whereas mediational analyses were run to examine the mediating role of self-esteem. Latent moderated mediation models were applied to examine the potentially moderating role of perceived stress.

Results: Perceived social support from family and friends were significantly related to lower depressive symptoms. Self-esteem fully mediated the relationship between perceived family support and depressive symptoms. Perceived stress moderated the model, and perceived social support was found to be more protective against depressive symptoms when moderate levels of stress were presented.

Conclusion: The study demonstrates that social support is protective against depressive symptoms. Self-esteem and perceived stress are important mechanisms that interact with this effect. Implications include the efforts to increase perceived family support during college years and management of stress levels before working with depressive symptoms.

Does social support modify the relationship between food insecurity and poor mental health? Evidence from thirty-nine sub-Saharan African countries

OBJECTIVE

The present study aimed to determine the relationship among food insecurity, social support and mental well-being in sub-Saharan Africa, a region presenting the highest prevalence of severe food insecurity and a critical scarcity of mental health care.

DESIGN

Food insecurity was measured using the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES). Social support was assessed using dichotomous indicators of perceived, foreign perceived, received, given, integrative and emotional support. The Negative and Positive Experience Indices (NEI and PEI) were used as indicators of mental well-being. Multilevel mixed-effect linear models were applied to examine the associations between mental well-being and food security status, social support and their interaction, respectively, accounting for random effects at country level and covariates.ParticipantsNationally representative adults surveyed through Gallup World Poll between 2014 and 2016 in thirty-nine sub-Saharan African countries (n 102 235).

RESULTS

The prevalence of severe food insecurity was 39 %. The prevalence of social support ranged from 30 to 72 % by type. In the pooled analysis using the adjusted model, food insecurity was dose-responsively associated with increased NEI and decreased PEI. Perceived, integrative and emotional support were associated with lower NEI and higher PEI. The differences in NEI and PEI between people with and without social support were the greatest among the most severely food insecure.

CONCLUSIONS

Both food insecurity and lack of social support constitute sources of vulnerability to poor mental well-being. Social support appears to modify the relationship between food security and mental well-being among those most affected by food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa.

Variability in spousal perceptions of caregiving and its relationship to older caregiver health outcomes

BACKGROUND

The transition to later-life caregiving roles, especially for couples caring for each other, can be rife with ambiguity. The incident discordance in spousal perceptions of one another's role and its relationship to mental health outcomes have not been well-described.

OBJECTIVES

(1) To describe the range of daily agreement between older adult spouses' perceptions of care given and care received; (2) to explore associations between caregiving agreement and daily caregiver depression, anxiety, and marital satisfaction; and (3) to evaluate differential effects for male and female caregivers.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional, ecological assessment (daily diary).

PARTICIPANTS

Sample of 191 couples aged 60-64 (total 5196 daily surveys) drawn from the longitudinal Life and Family Legacies study.

MAIN MEASURES

During 2011-2012, spouses independently completed 14 consecutive daily surveys about their mood, marital interactions, and support exchanges. Caregiving agreement was defined as the daily ratio of spouse-reported care received to self-reported care given. Using generalized linear mixed effect modeling, we examined associations between spousal care agreement and outcomes of depression, anxiety, and marital satisfaction.

KEY RESULTS

Sample data demonstrated broad variability in spousal agreement, with couples exhibiting substantial disagreement on nearly one-third of couple days (780/2598 days). On days where care was exchanged, higher caregiving agreement was associated with lower caregiver depression (p < 0.01) and anxiety (p < 0.01) in male caregivers, and higher marital satisfaction (p = 0.03) in female caregivers. When care recipients reported receiving more support than their spouse reported giving, these associations did not persist.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings suggest that spousal agreement about the amount of care given and received varies broadly and is an important consideration for primary care providers who counsel these patients day-to-day. Furthermore, agreement appears to predict mental health and relationship outcomes and should be further evaluated in this growing population of mid-to-late life adults emerging into caregiving.

The impact of workplace bullying in the Zimbabwean nursing environment: is social support a beneficial resource in the bullying–well-being relationship?

Bullying is an environmental workplace stressor that has severe implications for the bullied individual and the organisation. Nurses within Southern African hospitals face unique challenges, which can foster an environment within which bullying flourishes. In particular within public hospitals, there are shortages of doctors, equipment, and basic resources, and hospitals are grossly understaffed. This study investigated the effect of workplace bullying on nurses’ sense of well-being, their job satisfaction, and propensity to leave. The effectiveness of social support as a moderator of the impact of bullying was considered. A self-report questionnaire was completed by 102 nurses from a public hospital in Zimbabwe. Moderated multiple regression analyses were conducted on each of the outcomes of bullying. Workplace bullying was found to have a significant impact on the outcomes measured. Higher levels of bullying were associated with lowered job satisfaction and greater propensity to leave. Social support within the sample under study did not influence these outcomes, but did influence mental well-being as a moderator. At low and medium levels of experienced bullying, high levels of support promoted higher well-being than low and medium support. But this was not the case when there was a high level of bullying, where there was no difference in mental well-being as a function of the level of social support.

The More (Social Group Memberships), the Merrier: Is This the Case for Asians?

While previous studies have consistently shown that belonging to multiple groups enhances well-being, the current research proposes that for Asians, multiple group memberships (MGM) may confer fewer well-being benefits. We suggest that this is due, in part, to Asian norms about relationships and support seeking, making Asians more reluctant to enlist social support due to concerns about burdening others. Overall, MGM was associated with enhanced well-being in Westerners (Study 2), but not Asians (Studies 1-3). Study 2 showed that social support mediated the relationship between MGM and well-being for Westerners only. In Study 3, among Asians, MGM benefited the well-being of those who were least reluctant to enlist support. Finally, reviewing the MGM evidence-base to date, relative to Westerners, MGM was less beneficial for the well-being of Asians. The evidence underscores the importance of culture in influencing how likely individuals utilize their group memberships as psychological resources.

Pursuit of Comfort and Pursuit of Harmony: Culture, Relationships, and Social Support Seeking

This research examined whether people from collectivistic cultures are less likely to seek social support than are people from individualistic cultures because they are more cautious about potentially disturbing their social network. Study 1 found that Asian Americans from a more collectivistic culture sought social support less and found support seeking to be less effective than European Americans from a more individualistic culture. Study 2 found that European Americans' willingness to seek support was unaffected by relationship priming, whereas Asian Americans were willing to seek support less when the relationship primed was closer to the self. Study 3 replicated the results of Study 2 and found that the tendency to seek support and expect social support to be helpful as related to concerns about relationships. These findings underscore the importance of culturally divergent relationship patterns in understanding social support transactions.

The Neurobiology of Giving Versus Receiving Support: The Role of Stress-Related and Social Reward-Related Neural Activity

OBJECTIVES

There is a strong association between supportive ties and health. However, most research has focused on the health benefits that come from the support one receives while largely ignoring the support giver and how giving may contribute to good health. Moreover, few studies have examined the neural mechanisms associated with support giving or how giving support compares to receiving support.

METHOD

The current study assessed the relationships: a) between self-reported receiving and giving social support and vulnerability for negative psychological outcomes and b) between receiving and giving social support and neural activity to socially rewarding and stressful tasks. Thirty-six participants (mean [standard deviation] age = 22.36 [3.78] years, 44% female) completed three tasks in the functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner: 1) a stress task (mental arithmetic under evaluative threat), b) an affiliative task (viewing images of close others), and c) a prosocial task.

RESULTS

Both self-reported receiving and giving social support were associated with reduced vulnerability for negative psychological outcomes. However, across the three neuroimaging tasks, giving but not receiving support was related to reduced stress-related activity (dorsal anterior cingulate cortex [r = -0.27], left [r = -0.28] and right anterior insula [r = -0.33], and left [r = -0.32] and right amygdala [r = -0.32]) to a stress task, greater reward-related activity (left [r = 0.42] and right ventral striatum [VS; r = 0.41]) to an affiliative task, and greater caregiving-related activity (left VS [r = 0.31], right VS [r = 0.31], and septal area [r = 0.39]) to a prosocial task.

CONCLUSIONS

These results contribute to an emerging literature suggesting that support giving is an overlooked contributor to how social support can benefit health.

Daily negative affect and smoking after a self-set quit attempt: The role of dyadic invisible social support in a daily diary study

OBJECTIVES

Social support receipt from one's partner is assumed to be beneficial for successful smoking cessation. However, support receipt can have costs. Recent research suggests that the most effective support is unnoticed by the receiver (i.e., invisible). Therefore, this study examined the association between everyday levels of dyadic invisible emotional and instrumental support, daily negative affect, and daily smoking after a self-set quit attempt in smoker-non-smoker couples.

METHODS

Overall, 100 smokers (72.0% men, mean age M = 40.48, SD = 9.82) and their non-smoking partners completed electronic diaries from a self-set quit date on for 22 consecutive days, reporting daily invisible emotional and instrumental social support, daily negative affect, and daily smoking.

RESULTS

Same-day multilevel analyses showed that at the between-person level, higher individual mean levels of invisible emotional and instrumental support were associated with less daily negative affect. In contrast to our assumption, more receipt of invisible emotional and instrumental support was related to more daily cigarettes smoked.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings are in line with previous results, indicating invisible support to have beneficial relations with affect. However, results emphasize the need for further prospective daily diary approaches for understanding the dynamics of invisible support on smoking cessation. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Social support receipt from a close other has proven to have emotional costs. According to current studies, the most effective social support is unnoticed by the receiver (i.e., invisible). There is empirical evidence for beneficial effects of invisible social support on affective well-being. What does this study add? Confirming benefits of invisible social support for negative affect in a health behaviour change setting Providing first evidence for detrimental effects of invisible social support on smoking.

A qualitative investigation of obese women's experiences of effective and ineffective social support for weight management

An obese individual's social context influences the extent to which they engage in weight control behaviors. Although the available literature acknowledges the importance of social support for weight management, detailed analyses of obese individuals' experiences of social support for weight loss and/or weight loss maintenance have not been undertaken. Using a qualitative approach, this study presents 22 Australian obese women's perspectives of the availability and effectiveness of social support for weight control. Three superordinate categories, namely, ineffective support, effective support and personal barriers to accessing support, and 12 subcategories were identified. Participants reported minimal access to quality support for weight management, while also suggesting ways in which obese women themselves may hamper significant others' provision of effective support. The results support the investigation of interventions designed to enhance the skills of significant others in assisting obese individuals with weight management.

Social support and mastery influence the association between stress and poor physical health in parents caring for children with developmental disabilities

To date, much of the research linking the stress of caring for children with developmental disabilities (e.g. Autism & Down syndrome) with parental health outcomes have tended to concentrate on mental health with less attention paid to the physical health consequences. Thus, this study sought to explore the psychosocial predictors of poor physical health in these caring parents. One hundred and sixty-seven parents (109 caregivers and 58 control parents) completed measures of stress, child problem behaviours, social support, mastery and physical health. Parents of children with developmental disabilities had poorer physical health compared to control parents. Stress and mastery, but not social support and problem behaviours, were significant predictors of poor physical health within caring parents for children with developmental disabilities. However, the association between mastery and physical health was mediated by perceived stress such that those parents who were higher on mastery reported less stress and better physical health; furthermore, the association between stress and physical health was moderated by social support; those parents high on social support and low in stress had better physical health. These results indicate that the paths between psychosocial factors and poor physical health in the caring parents are working synergistically rather than in isolation. They also underscore the importance of providing multi-component interventions that offer a variety of psychosocial resources to meet the precise needs of the parents.

Does Receiving Unsolicited Support Help or Hurt? Receipt of Unsolicited Job Leads and Depression

Does receiving unsolicited support protect or hurt health? This study focuses on the receipt of unsolicited job leads and examines opposite hypotheses on its main and interaction effects with economic strain (lack of full-time employment and the duration of lack of full-time employment) and financial dissatisfaction on depression using nationally representative data of working-age adults in the United States. The distress-reducing perspective expects its main effect to be negative, but the distress-inducing perspective predicts the opposite. Furthermore, the need contingency argument anticipates the two competing perspectives-distress reducing and distress inducing-to have stronger explanatory power for adults with more economic strain and financial dissatisfaction and those with less economic strain and financial dissatisfaction, respectively. Results are consistent with the distress-inducing perspective and the need contingency argument. The findings indicate that the receipt of unsolicited job leads often plays a deleterious role for mental health but that the role varies according to the need for job leads.

The Relationship Between Social Support and Subjective Well-Being Across Age

The relationships among types of social support and different facets of subjective well-being (i.e., life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect) were examined in a sample of 1,111 individuals between the ages of 18 and 95. Using structural equation modeling we found that life satisfaction was predicted by enacted and perceived support, positive affect was predicted by family embeddedness and provided support, and negative affect was predicted by perceived support. When personality variables were included in a subsequent model, the influence of the social support variables were generally reduced. Invariance analyses conducted across age groups indicated that there were no substantial differences in predictors of the different types of subjective well-being across age.

Adolescent romance and depressive symptoms: the moderating effects of positive coping and perceived friendship competence

Youths' ability to positively cope with negative emotions and their self-perceived friendship competence were examined as potential moderators of links between multiple aspects of romantic relationships and residualized increases in depressive symptoms from late adolescence into early adulthood. Participants included 184 teens (46% male; 42% non-White) assessed at ages 15 to 19 and 21, as well as a subsample of 62 romantic partners of participants assessed when teens were 18. Results of hierarchical linear regressions showed that positive coping served as a buffer against depressive symptoms for romantically involved adolescents and also for teens receiving more intense emotional support from their romantic partners, but not for youth whose relationship had ended and had not been replaced by a new relationship. Higher perceived friendship competence served as a buffer against depressive symptoms for youth enduring the dissolution and nonreplacement of their romantic relationship. Greater use of positive coping skills and higher perceived friendship competence may help protect adolescents from depressive symptoms in different types of romantic experiences.

Understanding the costs of support transactions in daily life

The benefits of close relationships for mental and physical health are well documented. One of the mechanisms presumed to underlie these effects is social support, whereby close others provide practical and emotional assistance in times of need. Although there is no doubt that generalized perceptions of support availability are beneficial, research examining actual instances of support receipt has found unexpectedly mixed results. Receiving support sometimes has positive effects, but null or even negative effects are common. In this article, we review our multimethod program of research that seeks to understand and explain the costs of receiving social support. We focus on reductions in the recipient's sense of relationship equity and self-efficacy as mechanisms of this effect and examine a number of other moderating factors. Although we have found that receiving support incurs costs on average, there is considerable variability yet to be explained. Using diary data from 312 persons preparing to take a challenging exam, we examined the potential of individual differences in neuroticism, agreeableness, and attachment insecurity to explain variability in experienced support costs. We close with new questions about why received support may be beneficial or benign in some situations while being especially toxic in others.

The paradox of family support: concerns of tuberculosis-infected HIV patients about involving family and friends in their treatment

Despite the widely documented evidence that family support improves adherence to HIV treatment, some studies have reported no benefit or even a negative association between family support and adherence. This study reexamined the role of family support in treatment adherence to find out the circumstances under which family support for HIV and tuberculosis coinfected patients promotes or hinders treatment adherence in Cross River State, Nigeria. We conducted eight focus group discussions (FGDs) and four case histories with coinfected patients. In addition, 21 in-depth interviews (IDIs) were conducted with: 8 family members, 6 friends, and 7 care providers. Data were analyzed in a thematic format with the aid of NVIVO software. Overall, family support promotes adherence in coinfected patients. Family support may, however, have a negative effect on adherence when the recipient perceives that the support is given with ulterior motives (e.g., gossiping about them and becoming indebted to the support givers) and when the recipient is the primary breadwinner and feels that this role is being undermined. Family support is useful as a tool for scaling up adherence but the usefulness is context-specific and mediated by the patient's subjective interpretation of the support givers' motives.

Associations between received social support and positive and negative affect: evidence for age differences from a daily-diary study

Recent evidence suggests negative associations between received social support and emotional well-being. So far, these studies mainly focused on younger adults. Quantity and quality of social support changes with age; therefore, this study investigated whether there are age differences regarding the association between received social support and positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA). Moreover, it was tested whether these age effects might be due to a differential effectiveness of different sources of support for younger and older individuals. Forty-two individuals (21 younger adults, aged 21-40 and 21 older adults, aged 61-73) completed 30-daily diaries on their received social support, PA/NA and the sources of support provision. Data were analyzed using multilevel modeling. Results indicated age-related differential effects: for younger individuals, received social support was negatively associated with indicators of emotional well-being, whereas these associations were positive for older respondents. Regarding NA, these effects held when testing lagged predictions and controlling for previous-day affect. No age differences emerged regarding the associations between different sources of support and indicators of affect. Conceptual implications of these age-differential findings are discussed.

Clarifying the links between social support and health: culture, stress, and neuroticism matter

Although it is commonly assumed that social support positively predicts health, the empirical evidence has been inconsistent. We argue that three moderating factors must be considered: (1) support-approving norms (cultural context); (2) support-requiring situations (stressful events); and (3) support-accepting personal style (low neuroticism). Our large-scale cross-cultural survey of Japanese and US adults found significant associations between perceived support and health. The association was more strongly evident among Japanese (from a support-approving cultural context) who reported high life stress (in a support-requiring situation). Moreover, the link between support and health was especially pronounced if these Japanese were low in neuroticism.

Male Same Sex Couple Dynamics and Received Social Support for HIV Medication Adherence

This qualitative study examines received social support by analyzing relationship dynamics concerning antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence among HIV+ seroconcordant and serodiscordant male couples. Using narrative data from forty participants (20 couples interviewed separately), we describe patterns of relationship dynamics and support preferences. One group viewed adherence as a Personal Responsibility. A second group viewed adherence as a Couple Responsibility and integrated support for medication adherence into the relationship. A third group was in the process of ending their relationships and adherence support was one-sided or withdrawn altogether. Examining support exchanges contexts at cultural, situational, relational, and personal levels illuminated adherence processes. Qualitative methods provided a framework for investigating these complex relationships and their associations with HIV treatment adherence.

Enacted Support’s Links to Negative Affect and Perceived Support Are More Consistent With Theory When Social Influences Are Isolated From Trait Influences

Social support theory typically explains perceived support’s link to mental health as reflecting the role of specific supportive actions (i.e., enacted support).Yet enacted support typically is not linked to mental health and perceived support as predicted by theory. The links are examined among enacted support, affect, and perceived support when links reflected (a) aspects of support and affect that generalized across relationship partners and time (i.e., trait influences) and (b) aspects that reflected specific relationship partners (i.e., social influences). Multivariate generalizability analyses indicated that enacted support was linked to low negative affect as predicted by theory only when correlations reflected social influences. When correlations reflected trait influences, enacted support was linked to high negative affect. Furthermore, perceived and enacted support were strongly linked when correlations reflected social influences but not trait influences. Thus, findings for enacted support fit social support theory better when social influences were isolated from trait influences.

The Paradox of Received Social Support

Although the perception of available support is associated with positive outcomes, the receipt of actual support from close others is often associated with negative outcomes. In fact, support that is “invisible” (not perceived by the support recipient) is associated with better outcomes than “visible” support. To investigate this paradox, we proposed that received support (both visible and invisible) would be beneficial when it was responsive to the recipient's needs. Sixty-seven cohabiting couples participated in a daily-experience study in which they reported on the support they provided and received each day. Results indicated that both visible and invisible support were beneficial (i.e., associated with less sadness and anxiety and with greater relationship quality) only when the support was responsive. These findings suggest that the nature of support is an important determinant of when received support will be beneficial.

Antiretroviral medication support practices among partners of men who have sex with men: a qualitative study

The aim of this qualitative study is to describe the practical support for antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence offered by partners of men with HIV. Twenty couples in which at least one partner was HIV positive and on ART were interviewed separately about their involvement in their partners' ART adherence. The interview elicited narratives of specific recent events around taking medication, as well as accounts of what the participants usually did to support their partners' adherence. Three members of the qualitative team coded and verified the interviews for adherence support practices. Partners offered a wide range of kinds of practical support. Reminding included (1) regular reminding that was habitually offered, (2) situational reminding adapted to changing circumstances, and (3) intensive reminding, either regular (i.e., nagging) or situational. Instrumental helping involved monitoring medication adherence, bringing or setting out medications at the dose time, organizing the pills, and requesting and/or picking up refills. Coaching involved situational problem-solving and shaping behavior by reinforcing incremental gains and offering affirmations. Findings demonstrate a range of support practices for ART adherence, often tailored to partners' styles or to the changing process of adherence. By examining narratives of support transactions as they occurred, the study discriminated among the different dimensions, forms, sources and contexts of social support. These distinctions, often neglected in social support research, have implications for HIV care and research.

Receiving support as a mixed blessing: evidence for dual effects of support on psychological outcomes

Although social support is thought to boost feelings of closeness in dyadic relationships, recent findings have suggested that support receipt can increase distress in recipients. The authors investigated these apparently contrary findings in a large daily diary study of couples over 31 days leading up to a major stressor. Results confirm that daily support receipt was associated with greater feelings of closeness and greater negative mood. These average effects, however, masked substantial heterogeneity. In particular, those recipients showing greater benefits on closeness tended to show lesser cost on negative mood, and vice versa. Self-esteem was examined as a possible moderator of support effects, but its role was evident in only a subset of recipients. These results imply that models of dyadic support processes must accord a central role to between-individual heterogeneity.

Receiving support as a mixed blessing: evidence for dual effects of support on psychological outcomes

Although social support is thought to boost feelings of closeness in dyadic relationships, recent findings have suggested that support receipt can increase distress in recipients. The authors investigated these apparently contrary findings in a large daily diary study of couples over 31 days leading up to a major stressor. Results confirm that daily support receipt was associated with greater feelings of closeness and greater negative mood. These average effects, however, masked substantial heterogeneity. In particular, those recipients showing greater benefits on closeness tended to show lesser cost on negative mood, and vice versa. Self-esteem was examined as a possible moderator of support effects, but its role was evident in only a subset of recipients. These results imply that models of dyadic support processes must accord a central role to between-individual heterogeneity.

Is perceived emotional support beneficial? Well-being and health in independent and interdependent cultures

Previous studies show there is little or no association between perceived emotional support and well-being in European American culture. The authors hypothesized that this paradoxical absence of any benefit of perceived support is unique to cultural contexts that privilege independence rather than interdependence of the self. Study 1 tested college students and found, as predicted, that among Euro-Americans a positive effect of perceived emotional support on subjective well-being (positive affect) was weak and, moreover, it disappeared entirely once self-esteem was statistically controlled. In contrast, among Asians in Asia (Japanese and Filipinos) perceived emotional support positively predicted subjective well-being even after self-esteem was controlled. Study 2 extended Study 1 by testing both Japanese and American adults in midlife with respect to multiple indicators of well-being and physical health. Overall, the evidence underscores the central significance of culture as a moderator of the effectiveness of perceived emotional support.