Social support and psychological distress: A longitudinal analysis.

Abstract

This study used a multiple regression model of change in a longitudinal framework to examine the relationship between changes in social support and psychological maladjustment, controlling for initial maladjustment and initial levels of life change and social support. Respondents were a randomly selected community sample of 245 male and 248 female adult family members who completed two surveys administered 1 year apart. Findings were consistent with previous studies reporting a negative relationship between social support and psychological maladjustment. In addition, when initial levels of maladjustment, life change, and social support were controlled, results generally supported the prediction that decreases in social support in family and work environments would be significantly related to increases in psychological maladjustment over the 1 year period. Smith and Hobbs (1966), expressing an official view of the American Psychological Association, argued that psychological distress is not the "private misery of an individual," but is intrinsically tied to the breakdown of natural sources of social support in an individual's life involving family, job, friendship, and religious affiliation. Since that time, other investigators have advanced views of psychological maladjustment that emphasize the central role of social support (see Antonovsky, 1979; Mechanic, 1977). More recently, empirical evidence from a number of sources has pointed to an inverse relationship between social support and a variety of indices of psychological distress

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