Social support profiles correlate with depressive symptoms among Chinese parents during the COVID-19 pandemic: A latent profile analysis

This study explored pandemic-related social support profiles and investigated their relationships with depressive symptoms among Chinese parents during the COVID-19 pandemic. The hypotheses were evaluated in an online cross-sectional survey of 1286 parents. Latent profile analysis identified two profiles of received social support (isolated and integrated support). Three convergent profiles (high, moderate, and low support) and one divergent profile were found in perceived social support. The results revealed that the distribution of age, region, income and educational level varied across these profiles. Only the “high” (β = −0.11, p < 0.01) and “divergent” (β = −0.12, p < 0.01) profiles of perceived social support were negatively associated with parents’ depressive symptoms. These findings highlight the importance of developing better-targeted intervention programs aimed at optimizing the allocation and improving the quantity and quality of supportive resources for parents.

[1]  A. Hoffart,et al.  Parenting in a Pandemic: Parental Stress, Anxiety and Depression Among Parents During the Government-Initiated Physical Distancing Measures Following the First Wave of COVID-19. , 2021, Stress and health : journal of the International Society for the Investigation of Stress.

[2]  S. Wong,et al.  Loneliness, depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder among Chinese adults during COVID-19: A cross-sectional online survey , 2021, PLoS ONE.

[3]  Reed J. D. Sorensen,et al.  Global prevalence and burden of depressive and anxiety disorders in 204 countries and territories in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic , 2021, The Lancet.

[4]  Christine K. Malecki,et al.  Social Support, Depression, and Anxiety in Female Adolescents: Associations and Profiles , 2021, Child & Youth Care Forum.

[5]  J. Cénat,et al.  Prevalence and correlates of depression during the COVID-19 pandemic and the major role of stigmatization in low- and middle-income countries: A multinational cross-sectional study , 2021, Psychiatry Research.

[6]  Mingjie Zhou,et al.  Effects of sources of social support and resilience on the mental health of different age groups during the COVID-19 pandemic , 2021, BMC Psychiatry.

[7]  C. Kou,et al.  The prevalence of depressive symptoms and its determinants among adults in mainland China: Results from a national household survey. , 2020, Journal of affective disorders.

[8]  Linchuan Yang,et al.  The Impact of Social Support on Public Anxiety amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic in China , 2020, International journal of environmental research and public health.

[9]  Syeda Sana Samar,et al.  Prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress in china during COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review with meta-analysis , 2020, International journal of psychiatry in medicine.

[10]  Yuanyuan An,et al.  Anxiety, depression and PTSD among children and their parent during 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in China , 2020, Current psychology.

[11]  Yao Jiang,et al.  Heterogeneous Influences of Social Support on Physical and Mental Health: Evidence from China , 2020, International journal of environmental research and public health.

[12]  R. McIntyre,et al.  Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in the general population: A systematic review , 2020, Journal of Affective Disorders.

[13]  B. Russell,et al.  Initial Challenges of Caregiving During COVID-19: Caregiver Burden, Mental Health, and the Parent–Child Relationship , 2020, Child Psychiatry & Human Development.

[14]  Shu-Li Cheng,et al.  Perceived social support and depression symptoms in patients with major depressive disorder in Taiwan: An association study. , 2020, Archives of psychiatric nursing.

[15]  Annette K. Griffith.  Parental Burnout and Child Maltreatment During the COVID-19 Pandemic , 2020, Journal of Family Violence.

[16]  Yeen Huang,et al.  Generalized anxiety disorder, depressive symptoms and sleep quality during COVID-19 outbreak in China: a web-based cross-sectional survey , 2020, Psychiatry Research.

[17]  H. Fu,et al.  Mental health problems and social media exposure during COVID-19 outbreak , 2020, PloS one.

[18]  A. Morin,et al.  A Person‐Centred Perspective on Social Support in the Workplace , 2019, Applied Psychology.

[19]  S. Chong,et al.  Social support network typologies and their association with dementia and depression among older adults in Singapore: a cross-sectional analysis , 2019, BMJ Open.

[20]  A. Tiwari,et al.  A cross-sectional study of coping resources and mental health of Chinese older adults in the United States , 2018, Aging & mental health.

[21]  Yiji Wang.  Intergenerational Transmission of Depressive Symptoms: The Role of Parental Negative Perceptions and Behaviors , 2017, Child Psychiatry & Human Development.

[22]  Yiji Wang.  Intergenerational Transmission of Depressive Symptoms: The Role of Parental Negative Perceptions and Behaviors , 2017, Child Psychiatry & Human Development.

[23]  Baljinder K. Sahdra,et al.  A Longitudinal Person-Centered Perspective on Youth Social Support: Relations With Psychological Wellbeing , 2017, Developmental psychology.

[24]  G. Gariépy,et al.  Social support and protection from depression: systematic review of current findings in Western countries. , 2016, The British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science.

[25]  M. Schafer,et al.  The Dynamics of Social Support Inequality: Maintenance Gaps by Socioeconomic Status and Race? , 2016 .

[26]  John P. Meyer,et al.  A person‐centered approach to commitment research: Theory, research, and methodology , 2016 .

[27]  B. Mustanski,et al.  Typologies of Social Support and Associations with Mental Health Outcomes Among LGBT Youth. , 2015, LGBT health.

[28]  A. Dobson,et al.  Validation of the MOS Social Support Survey 6-item (MOS-SSS-6) measure with two large population-based samples of Australian women , 2014, Quality of Life Research.

[29]  R. Gear.  Bereaved Parents' Perspectives on Informal Social Support: “What Worked for You?” , 2014 .

[30]  Justin Jager.  Convergence and nonconvergence in the quality of adolescent relationships and its association with adolescent adjustment and young-adult relationship quality , 2011, International journal of behavioral development.

[31]  E. Orehek,et al.  Relational regulation theory: a new approach to explain the link between perceived social support and mental health. , 2011, Psychological review.

[32]  B. Muthén,et al.  Deciding on the Number of Classes in Latent Class Analysis and Growth Mixture Modeling: A Monte Carlo Simulation Study , 2007 .

[33]  B. Baltes,et al.  The relationship between self-reported received and perceived social support: A meta-analytic review , 2007, American journal of community psychology.

[34]  Gina Lai,et al.  Social structure and support networks in Beijing and Hong Kong , 2005, Soc. Networks.

[35]  N. Krause,et al.  Mental health among older adults in Japan: do sources of social support and negative interaction make a difference? , 2004, Social science & medicine.

[36]  S. Lynch,et al.  Trajectories of impairment, social support, and depressive symptoms in later life. , 2004, The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences.

[37]  N. Krause,et al.  Anticipated support, received support, and economic stress among older adults. , 1997, The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences.

[38]  Laura L. Carstensen,et al.  Evidence for a Life-Span Theory of Socioemotional Selectivity , 1995 .

[39]  L. Radloff.  The CES-D Scale , 1977 .

[40]  S. Cobb.  Presidential Address-1976. Social support as a moderator of life stress. , 1976, Psychosomatic medicine.

[41]  L. Radloff.  The CES-D Scale: A Self-Report Depression Scale for Research in the General Population — Source link , 2022 .