Poulin John, Deng Rong, Ingersoll Travis Sky, Witt Heather, Swain Melanie
Widener University, One University Place, Chester, PA 19013, USA.
J Cross Cult Gerontol. 2012 Dec;27(4):305-17. doi: 10.1007/s10823-012-9177-y.
This study examines two sources of informal support-perceived family and friend support-and the psychological well-being-self-esteem, depression and loneliness-of 150 Chinese and 145 American elders. There were no significant differences between the elderly American and Chinese persons' mean scores on family and friend support. The multiple linear regression analyses with interaction terms (country x family support and country x friend support), however, indicated that the relationship between family support and depression and family support and loneliness was stronger for the Chinese elderly than the US elderly. Conversely, the relationship between friend support and depression and friend support and loneliness is stronger for US elderly than Chinese elderly. The implications of these findings for social work practice in both countries is discussed.
本研究考察了两种非正式支持来源——感知到的家庭支持和朋友支持——以及150名中国老年人和145名美国老年人的心理健康状况，包括自尊、抑郁和孤独感。美国老年人和中国老年人在家庭和朋友支持方面的平均得分没有显著差异。然而，带有交互项（国家×家庭支持和国家×朋友支持）的多元线性回归分析表明，对于中国老年人而言，家庭支持与抑郁以及家庭支持与孤独感之间的关系比美国老年人更强。相反，对于美国老年人而言，朋友支持与抑郁以及朋友支持与孤独感之间的关系比中国老年人更强。本文讨论了这些研究结果对两国社会工作实践的启示。
