Department of Psychology, University of Cyprus, P.O. Box 20537, 1678 Nicosia, Cyprus.
Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2013 Feb;48(2):283-94. doi: 10.1007/s00127-012-0533-6. Epub 2012 Jun 19.
Anxiety disorders are prevalent and substantially hinder quality of life, in all domains, including social connections, mental and physical health. Past research on stress indicates that perceived social support improves wellbeing both directly by providing positive experiences and indirectly through buffering the effects of stress. This study examined whether social support moderates the negative impact of anxiety disorders on quality of life.
The study was conducted on a community sample in Cyprus, screened for anxiety disorders. The hypothesized model takes into account potential differences between individuals with and without anxiety in health, tendency to seek support, stressful life events, and depression. Furthermore, differences between different anxiety disorders on these variables were examined.
Results indicate that perceived social support has a positive, direct effect on quality of life and perceived stress for all participants but that it does not appear to moderate the adverse effects of having a disorder on quality of life or stress. The negative effects of anxiety appeared to mostly be carried by comorbid depression.
Social support is important for quality of life. Potential interventions for anxiety disorders should take this into account, as well as the substantially detrimental role of co-morbid depression symptoms on wellbeing outcomes.
焦虑障碍普遍存在，并严重影响生活质量，包括社交关系、身心健康等各个方面。过往关于压力的研究表明，感知到的社会支持可以通过提供积极的体验直接改善幸福感，也可以通过缓冲压力的影响间接地改善幸福感。本研究旨在检验社会支持是否能调节焦虑障碍对生活质量的负面影响。
该研究在塞浦路斯的社区样本中进行，对焦虑障碍进行了筛查。假设模型考虑了健康状况、寻求支持的倾向、生活压力事件和抑郁方面存在差异的个体之间的潜在差异。此外，还检查了不同焦虑障碍在这些变量上的差异。
结果表明，感知到的社会支持对所有参与者的生活质量和感知压力都有积极的直接影响，但它似乎并没有调节患有障碍对生活质量或压力的不良影响。焦虑的负面影响似乎主要由共病抑郁引起。
社会支持对生活质量很重要。针对焦虑障碍的潜在干预措施应该考虑到这一点，以及共病抑郁症状对幸福感结果的实质性不利影响。
