Abbas Jaffar, Aqeel M, Abbas J, Shaher B, A Jaffar, Sundas J, Zhang W
School of Media and Communication (SMC), Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), 800 Dongchuan Road, Minhang, 200240 Shanghai, China.
Foundation University, Defense Avenue, Phase-I, DHA, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan.
J Affect Disord. 2019 Feb 1;244:231-238. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2018.07.071. Epub 2018 Aug 3.
This study examined how social support moderates the prolongation of mental distress related to depression, anxiety, stress, and marital adjustment in working and nonworking women. The study aimed to reveal the relationship between social support and mental health issues associated with depression, anxiety, stress, and marital adjustment among females.
This research study is among the few studies performed in a Pakistani context and was conducted in 2017 to measure affective disorders among nonworking and working married females. Questionnaires were distributed among 500 targeted women, and valid responses were received from married working women in hospitals, banks, and multinational companies, and married nonworking women from residential areas of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Pakistan. A cross-sectional design with purposive sampling was adapted for this research, and three scales were used to measure stress, anxiety, depression, social support, and marital adjustment and its social and cultural implications among the sampled population.
Social support was positively and significantly associated with marital adjustment, although it showed a negative association with anxiety, depression, and stress in working and nonworking women; this finding reflects the better mental health of the study population. The findings proved that marital adjustment has a negative relation with depression and anxiety in married working and nonworking females. Social support acts as a moderator for marital cohesion, affection, stress, and depression, and the results reflected that nonworking women with higher marital cohesion and affection showed less stress and depression because of social support.
The findings of this sample cannot be generalized to the whole population as they are specific to the targeted respondents only.
The study revealed that women's mental health is affected by psychological distress caused by depression, anxiety, stress, social and cultural norms, and their implications. Lower stress and depression lead to better mental health as ostensive social support may help to explain the relationship between depression, anxiety, and stress.
本研究探讨了社会支持如何调节在职和非在职女性中与抑郁、焦虑、压力及婚姻调适相关的心理困扰的延长情况。该研究旨在揭示女性中社会支持与抑郁、焦虑、压力及婚姻调适相关的心理健康问题之间的关系。
本研究是在巴基斯坦背景下进行的少数研究之一，于2017年开展，旨在测量已婚在职和非在职女性中的情感障碍。向500名目标女性发放了问卷，收到了来自医院、银行和跨国公司的已婚在职女性以及巴基斯坦伊斯兰堡和拉瓦尔品第居民区的已婚非在职女性的有效回复。本研究采用了目的抽样的横断面设计，并使用三个量表来测量压力、焦虑、抑郁、社会支持、婚姻调适及其在抽样人群中的社会和文化影响。
社会支持与婚姻调适呈显著正相关，尽管在在职和非在职女性中它与焦虑、抑郁和压力呈负相关；这一发现反映了研究人群较好的心理健康状况。研究结果证明，婚姻调适与已婚在职和非在职女性的抑郁和焦虑呈负相关。社会支持在婚姻凝聚力、情感、压力和抑郁方面起调节作用，结果表明，婚姻凝聚力和情感较高的非在职女性由于社会支持而表现出较少的压力和抑郁。
该样本的研究结果不能推广到整个人口，因为它们仅针对目标受访者。
该研究表明，女性的心理健康受到抑郁、焦虑、压力、社会和文化规范及其影响所导致的心理困扰的影响。较低的压力和抑郁会带来更好的心理健康，因为明显的社会支持可能有助于解释抑郁、焦虑和压力之间的关系。
