Racial Discrimination and Psychological Distress among African American Adolescents: Investigating the Social Support Deterioration Model

Abstract Background Although caregivers of patients with eating disorders usually experience a heavy caregiving burden, the effects of social support on caregivers of patients with eating disorders are unknown. This study aimed to investigate how social support for mothers who are caregivers of patients with an eating disorder improves the mothers’ mental status and, consequently, the symptoms and status of the patients. Methods Fifty-seven pairs of participants were recruited from four family self-help groups and one university hospital in Japan. Recruitment was conducted from July 2017 to August 2018. Mothers were evaluated for social support using the Japanese version of the Social Provisions Scale-10 item (SPS-10), self-efficacy using the General Self-Efficacy Scale, loneliness using the University of California, Los Angeles Loneliness Scale, listening attitude using the Active Listening Attitude Scale, family functioning using the Family Assessment Device, depression symptoms using the Beck Depression Inventory (Second Edition), and psychological distress using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale. Patients were evaluated for self-esteem using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, assertion using the Youth Assertion Scale, and their symptoms using the Eating Disorder Inventory. We divided the mothers and patients into two groups based on the mean score of the SPS-10 of mothers and compared the status of mothers and patients between the high- and low-scoring groups. Results High social support for mothers of patients with eating disorders was significantly associated with lower scores for loneliness and depression of these mothers. We found no significant differences in any patient scores based on mothers’ level of social support. Conclusions For patients with eating disorders, social support for a caregiver cannot be expected to improve their symptoms, but it may help prevent caregiver depression and loneliness.

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Perceptions of Social Support in Doctoral Programs among Minority Students

Psychological Reports ◽

10.2466/pr0.2000.86.3.1003 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 86 (3) ◽

pp. 1003-1010 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Keith B. Williams

Keyword(s):

Social Support ◽

African American ◽

Native American ◽

Doctoral Students ◽

Social Environment ◽

Graduate School ◽

Asian American ◽

Doctoral Programs ◽

Student Survey ◽

The Social

This study examined the perceptions of social support reported by 70 African-American, 44 Hispanic, 20 Native-American, and 69 Asian-American doctoral students ( N = 203) concerning their experiences in graduate school. The Doctoral Student Survey was used to measure the levels and types of social support provided. One-way analysis of variance of mean scores indicated that a majority of doctoral students perceived the academic environment on campus and faculty advisers to be strong sources of social support, while perceiving the social environment on campus as unsupportive of their progress. The African-American and Native-American doctoral students perceived the social environment on campus to be less supportive than did the Hispanic and Asian-American doctoral students, and Native-American doctoral students perceived their departments to be less supportive than did the African-American, Hispanic, and Asian-American doctoral students.

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How Relationship Satisfaction Influences Post-Pandemic COVID-19 Anxiety: A Four-Wave Study in China

10.31234/osf.io/vbwcg ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Jingyi Ou ◽

yunhanqi ◽

Ke Zhang ◽

Yuexiao Du ◽

Yihang He ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Social Support ◽

Psychological Distress ◽

Relationship Satisfaction ◽

Social Interactions ◽

Social Isolation ◽

Social Relationships ◽

Crucial Role ◽

Perceived Social Support ◽

The Social

The social isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic exerts lasing impacts on people’s mental health. However, whether and how people’s pre-existing positive social relationships can serve as stable reserves to alleviate people psychological distress following the disaster remains unknown. To address the question, the current study examined whether pre-pandemic relationship satisfaction would predict post-pandemic COVID-19 anxiety through middle-pandemic perceived social support and/or gratitude using four-wave data in China (N = 222, 54.50% female, Mage = 31.53, SD = 8.17). Results showed that people’s COVID-19 anxiety decreased from the peak to the trough pandemic stage; perceived social support increased markedly from the pre-pandemic to the peak and remained stable afterwards, while relationship satisfaction remained unchanged throughout. Further, it was middle-pandemic perceived social support, but not gratitude, mediated the association between pre-pandemic relationship satisfaction and post-pandemic COVID-19 anxiety, indicating perceived social support played a more crucial role than gratitude in this process. Last, it is suggested to distinguish perceived social support from gratitude as two different components of social interactions.

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