The role of perceived social support on depression and sleep during the COVID-19 pandemic
Open accessAbstract
The aim of the present study was to examine the role of perceived social support pertaining to a range of psychological health outcomes amongst individuals undergoing social isolation and social distancing during COVID-19. A total of 2,020 participants provided responses to an online cross-sectional survey comprised of validated instruments including the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7), the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), the Brief Irritability Test (BITe) and the UCLA Loneliness Scale (UCLA-LS). Individuals experiencing self-isolation had significantly higher rates of depression, irritability and loneliness compared to those who were not. The risk for elevated levels of depression symptoms was 63% lower in individuals who reported higher levels of social support compared to those with low perceived social support. Similarly, those with high social support had a 52% lower risk of poor sleep quality compared to those with low social support. Social support was found to be significantly associated with elevated risk for depression and poorer sleep quality. The results contribute to our understanding of differential psychological outcomes for individuals experiencing anti-pandemic measures.
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Those who reported high social support had a significantly lower risk of experiencing depression, sleeplessness, anxiety and loneliness.
“those who reported high social support had a significantly lower risk of experiencing depression, sleeplessness, anxiety and loneliness (Grey et al., 2020; Ma et al., 2020).”
From Social connections combat loneliness and promote wellbeing among college students coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic (2025) · cites this paper as Grey et al., 2020
The Discussion reports significantly lower depression risk and poor-sleep risk among participants with high perceived social support. The Results show lower anxiety and loneliness scores, but the fully adjusted anxiety association is not significant, and the paper does not report a corresponding risk estimate for loneliness. (LLM, conf=0.89)
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- Authors
- Grey, I., Arora, T., Thomas, J., Saneh, A., Tohme, P., & Abi-Habib, R.
- Affiliations
- Lebanese American University (LB)
- Zayed University (AE)
- Corresponding author
- Grey, Ian
- Venue
- Psychiatry Research
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2020-11
- Volume
- 293
- Pages
- 113452
- ISSN
- 0165-1781 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7500407
- OpenAlex
- W3087275016
- Cited by
- 587
- References
- 52
- Citations by year
- 2026: 42 · 2025: 65 · 2024: 110 · 2023: 131 · 2022: 146 · 2021: 90 · 2020: 2 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 36.93
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Psychiatry Research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
- Keywords
- perceived social support, depression, sleep quality, COVID-19 pandemic, social isolation, social distancing, loneliness, irritability, anxiety, mental health outcomes
- MeSH terms
- Patient Health Questionnaire, Betacoronavirus, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Adolescent, Adult, Cross-Sectional Studies, Depression, Female, Humans, Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders, Loneliness, Male, Middle Aged, Perception, Pneumonia, Viral, Risk Factors, Social Isolation, Social Support, Coronavirus Infections, Young Adult, Pandemics
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