Social support for families with children in the period of coronavirus epidemic and families' need

The purpose of this work is analysis of the social support coverage in Russia during the coronavirus epidemic. The paper also analyzes the impact of the pandemic on the financial situation of families. The work focused on families with children as the poorest category of the Russian population with a lot of social exclusions. The study was based on the data from population survey conducted at the top of the epidemic by the Yuri Levada Analytical Center (LEVADA-CENTER). During the period of isolation caused by the coronavirus epidemic, population significantly suffered from lack of work and reduction of earnings. Families with children lost the possibility to leave children in kindergartens and schools that had a negative effect on the welfare of the population: 35% families reported worsening of the financial situation of their families over the past year. At the same time, more than 40% of the families received social support compensating the negative effect of the coronavirus epidemic. Social support was primarily provided to families with children — there were twice as many recipients of benefits among them then among the entire population. The paper also analyzes the opinion of the population about what measures of the social support they consider the most important and what types of assistance their families need. According to the survey data, the greatest need of the population is for financial support (almost 37% of families). At the same time, the majority of the respondents believe that it is the duty of the state to provide all children with normal living standards. The analysis has shown the importance of the social support of the population and the necessity of raising its efficiency in the difficult period of the coronavirus epidemic.

The Interactive Effects of Education and Social Support on Blood Pressure in African Americans

This study examined whether the effects of received and provided social support on blood pressure (BP) would differ by education. Data from 602 African American adults (48-95 years) enrolled in the Baltimore Study of Black Aging—Patterns of Cognitive Aging were analyzed using multiple linear regression. We found no main effects of received and provided social support on BP. However, a significant moderation effect was observed for systolic BP, such that greater received social support was positively associated with higher systolic BP among individuals with low levels of education, adjusting for age, sex, chronic health conditions, and depressive symptoms. The findings demonstrate that social support and education have joint effects on blood pressure, which highlights the importance of considering psychosocial determinants of adverse cardiovascular health outcomes that disproportionately affect African Americans.

Dual-Focused Transformational Leadership, Teachers’ Satisfaction of the Need for Relatedness, and the Mediating Role of Social Support

Basic psychological need satisfaction is essential for the wellbeing of teachers and motivation at work. Transformational leadership contributes to the development and maintenance of a respectful, constructive atmosphere, a supportive working climate, and has been suggested to be a crucial factor for the satisfaction of the need for relatedness of employees. Transformational leadership is also considered as an ideal leadership style in the school setting, but most studies did not distinguish between individual and team effects of this leadership behavior. In the present study, we applied the dual-focused model of transformational leadership and focused on social processes to address the question of whether individual- and group-focused transformational leadership behavior contribute differently to satisfaction of the need for relatedness of teachers. Based on longitudinal data with three measurement points across one school year of N = 1,217 teachers, results of structural equational models supported the notion of the dual effects of transformational leadership: Individual-focused transformational leadership was directly positively related to change in satisfaction of the need for relatedness of teachers. The relationship between group-focused transformational leadership and change in satisfaction of the need for relatedness was mediated by received social support from team members. These findings emphasize the importance of school leadership behavior of principals for satisfaction of the need for relatedness of teachers. The satisfaction of the need for relatedness is, therefore, not only satisfied through the direct interaction between the school principal and the individual teacher but also through interactions of the school principal with the whole team. Our results confirm that school principals should focus their leadership behavior both on individual need satisfaction of teachers as well as on team development.

Interaction effect of coping self-efficacy and received support in daily life of hematopoietic cell transplant patient-caregiver dyads

Objectives According to the social cognitive theory, social support and self-efficacy may interact with each other i.e. compete or account jointly for better adaptation. This study examined the nature of the interaction between coping self-efficacy and received social support in daily lives of patient-caregiver dyads after cancer treatment. We tested whether the effect of daily fluctuations in coping self-efficacy and received support on daily affect was synergistic (positive jointed effect), compensatory (positive competing effect), or interference (negative competing effect). Design A dyadic daily-diary study conducted for 28 days after hospital discharge following hematopoietic cell transplantation. Methods Coping self-efficacy, received support, and positive and negative affect were measured in 200 patient-caregiver dyads. The analysis was based on the actor-partner interdependence moderation model using multilevel structural equation modeling. Results Statistically significant effect of interaction between daily coping self-efficacy and received support on negative affect was found, although only in the caregivers. In that group, higher daily received support compensated for lower daily coping self-efficacy but had a negative effect when coping self-efficacy was significantly higher than typical. Also, direct beneficial effects of higher daily coping self-efficacy and received support on caregiver positive affect were found. In the patients, higher daily coping self-efficacy was directly associated with better daily affect. Conclusions Diverse effects of daily coping self-efficacy and received social support were found—the interference effect in the caregivers and the main effect of coping self-efficacy in the patients. Higher daily coping self-efficacy and optimal received social support may provide resilience against affect disturbance after cancer treatment.

Internet and Social Isolation: A Comparative Study of the Effect of Internet Use on Social Isolation Between Young and Middle-Aged Individuals

Background: One of the symptoms of mental health disorders is social isolation which refers to unfavorable social relationships with other people. Today, Internet use is an important predictor of social isolation. Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between Internet use and social isolation (objective-subjective) in young and middle-aged individuals in the city of Shiraz. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 600 young and middle-aged (15 - 65 years old) individuals in Shiraz, Iran. Data were collected using three questionnaires (objective isolation with four subscales, subjective isolation with two subscales, and the amount of Internet use). Regression analyses were used to analyze the data. Results: Regression analysis showed that in objective isolation, Internet use increased just two subscales, including network diversity (P < 0.001) and the level of social participation (P < 0.001). It can be argued that the Internet has partly reduced social isolation in the objective dimension. In the subjective dimension, Internet use has increased the received social support (P < 0.001). Thus, Internet use would reduce the level of social isolation in the subjective dimension (P < 0.001). Although the significance level of the relationship between Internet use and social isolation is almost the same in both generations, the intensity of middle-aged relationships is higher than that in young people. Conclusions: Internet use has reduced social isolation; however, considering the low intensity of the reduction of isolation, it is argued that Internet use does not isolate people but just does not upgrade them much.

The Interactive Effects of Education and Social Support on Blood Pressure in African Americans

Background This study examined whether the effects of received and provided social support on blood pressure (BP) would differ by education. Methods Data from 602 African American adults (48-95 years) enrolled in the Baltimore Study of Black Aging—Patterns of Cognitive Aging were analyzed using multiple linear regression. Results We found no main effects of received and provided social support on BP. However, a significant moderation effect was observed for systolic BP, such that greater received social support was positively associated with higher systolic BP among individuals with low levels of education, adjusting for age, sex, chronic health conditions, and depressive symptoms. Conclusions The findings demonstrate that social support and education have joint effects on blood pressure, which highlights the importance of considering psychosocial determinants of adverse cardiovascular health outcomes that disproportionately affect African Americans.

Relationship between Willingness and Psychological Characteristics of Suicide Prevention Telephone Counselors: A Retrospective Observational Study

Suicide is a major public health issue worldwide, and telephone counseling is an important preventive measure. As the number of telephone counselors is insufficient in Japan, public needs cannot be fully met. Willingness is important for securing telephone counselors, but few studies have examined the willingness to engage in telephone counseling activities. Therefore, we investigated the relationship between telephone counselors’ willingness to perform their activities and their psychological characteristics, health status, and received social support. In this study, a questionnaire survey was conducted by mail among telephone counselors belonging to the Federation of Inochi No Denwa in Japan. The total number of valid responses was 709 (recovery rate: 50.4%). Following an exploratory factor analysis, three factors were extracted: (1) willingness to engage in telephone counseling activities, (2) sense of being burdened by telephone counseling activities, and (3) sense of difficulty in coping. Structural equation modeling, using all the factors, showed that social support and grit were directly related to the willingness to engage in telephone counseling activities, while physical health, mental health, and general self-efficacy were indirectly related to it. The findings obtained may be useful in devising concrete measures for telephone counselors to continue their activities.