Parents’ perceived social support and children’s psychological adjustment
Abstract
Summary Perceived social support has often been investigated due to its direct and indirect effects in reducing the impact of several risk factors on physical and psychological well-being. Moreover, many studies have revealed a link between social support and positive parenting, which in turn has an impact on children’s well-being. In Portugal, there is a significant lack of studies in this area. The aim of the present study was to analyze the relationship between parents’ perceived social support and children’s psychological adjustment. The sample consisted of 409 parents (83.13% mothers) living in the region of Algarve (South of Portugal). The Duke-UNC Functional Social Support and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaires were used. Findings The results showed that, on average, families had a social support network of nine people, with a balanced presence of family ( M = 4.25, SD = 3.54) and friends ( M = 4.36, SD = 3.17). Parents reported medium-high levels of confidant and affective support, but instrumental support was lower. However, single-parent families, immigrant families, and divorced parents were found to be more socially isolated and received less support than they needed. Affective social support showed predictive value for child psychological adjustment. Applications These findings suggest that developing universal and selective parental education and support programs that focus on strengthening informal social support networks is needed, especially for vu…
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Single parents often report less social support than their married peers.
“single parents, who often report less social support than their married peers (Nunes et al., 2021)”
From Parenting Stress, Child Social Functioning, and Part C Early Intervention in Predominantly Low-Income Families of Children With or at High Risk for Developmental Delay From Minoritized Racial and Ethnic Groups (2023) · cites this paper as Nunes et al., 2021
Cites
Brown, S. G., Hudson, D. B., Campbell-Grossman, C., Kupzyk, K. A., Yates, B. C., & Hanna, K. M. (2018) · Western Journal of Nursing Research · doi:10.1177/0193945916682724 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Hardesty, J. L., Ogolsky, B. G., Raffaelli, M., & Whittaker, A. (2019) · Journal of Social and Personal Relationships · doi:10.1177/0265407519833178 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
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Kuhn, J., Hickey, E., Lindly, O., Stransky, M., Masaro, M., Patts, G. J., Cabral, H., Crossman, M., Augustyn, M., Feinberg, E., et al. (2023) · Journal of Early Intervention · doi:10.1177/10538151231155406 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“Regarding parents’ social support and parenting stress, single parents, who often report less social support than their married peers (Nunes et al., 2021), were more likely to have clinically elevated parenting stress.”
- Authors
- Nunes, C., Martins, C., Ayala-Nunes, L., Matos, F., Costa, E., & Gonçalves, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Algarve (PT)
- Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry, England
- Centro de Estudos e Desenvolvimento em Saúde, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal
- Corresponding author
- Nunes, Cristina
- Venue
- Journal of Social Work
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2020-03-18
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 497-512
- ISSN
- 1468-0173 (ISSN-L)
- 1741-296X
- OpenAlex
- W3010857414
- Cited by
- 45
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 6.39
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Social Work (publishedVersion)
- Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology (RCAAP Project by FCT) (submittedVersion)
- Warwick Research Archive Portal (University of Warwick) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (CIP/UAL - Refª UID/PSI/04345/2019)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Demography › Family Dynamics and Relationships
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Family and Disability Support Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Keywords
- perceived social support, child adjustment, parental support, emotional support, instrumental support, social isolation, single-parent families, immigrant families, divorced parents, family support networks, vulnerable families, Algarve
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