Ioannou Myria, Kassianos Angelos P, Symeou Maria
Department of Psychology, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus.
Department of Applied Health Research, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
Front Psychol. 2019 Jan 14;9:2780. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02780. eCollection 2018.
The interrelationship between social support, depressive symptoms, stress and self-esteem in young adults remains unclear. This study aims to test the mediating role of self-esteem in the relationship between social support and depressive symptoms and the moderating role of perceived stress in the relationship between the two. This is important to inform components of future intervention development targeting youth depression. Three hundred forty-four ( = 344) young adults in Cyprus aged 17-26 (78% female) completed measures of self-esteem, social support, depressive symptoms, and perceived stress. Structural equation models were used to examine the interactions between social support and depressive psychopathology, whereas mediational analyses were run to examine the mediating role of self-esteem. Latent moderated mediation models were applied to examine the potentially moderating role of perceived stress. Perceived social support from family and friends were significantly related to lower depressive symptoms. Self-esteem fully mediated the relationship between perceived family support and depressive symptoms. Perceived stress moderated the model, and perceived social support was found to be more protective against depressive symptoms when moderate levels of stress were presented. The study demonstrates that social support is protective against depressive symptoms. Self-esteem and perceived stress are important mechanisms that interact with this effect. Implications include the efforts to increase perceived family support during college years and management of stress levels before working with depressive symptoms.
年轻人中社会支持、抑郁症状、压力和自尊之间的相互关系仍不明确。本研究旨在检验自尊在社会支持与抑郁症状关系中的中介作用，以及感知压力在二者关系中的调节作用。这对于为未来针对青少年抑郁症的干预发展提供信息很重要。344名年龄在17至26岁之间的塞浦路斯年轻人（78%为女性）完成了自尊、社会支持、抑郁症状和感知压力的测量。采用结构方程模型来检验社会支持与抑郁心理病理学之间的相互作用，同时进行中介分析以检验自尊的中介作用。应用潜在调节中介模型来检验感知压力的潜在调节作用。来自家人和朋友的感知社会支持与较低的抑郁症状显著相关。自尊完全中介了感知家庭支持与抑郁症状之间的关系。感知压力对模型有调节作用，并且当呈现中等水平的压力时，感知社会支持对抑郁症状的保护作用更强。该研究表明社会支持对抑郁症状有保护作用。自尊和感知压力是与这种效应相互作用的重要机制。其启示包括在大学期间努力增加感知到的家庭支持，以及在处理抑郁症状之前管理压力水平。
