This review presents evidence that the stress-buffering effect is more often able to account for the relationship between social support and pain experience. Moreover, findings suggest the critical significance of stress appraisal and attenuated stress systems in linking social support to aspects of reduced pain experience. Findings implicate the role of integrating perceived support and intimacy in support-oriented interventional trials for chronic pain.

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Social support refers to interpersonal exchanges that include the combinations of aid, affirmation and affection. Perceived social support is a kind of subjective judgment of one's availability of social support. In spite of the importance of perceived social support to health, however, its neural substrate remains unknown. To address this question, voxel-based morphometry was employed to investigate the neural bases of individual differences in responses to the Perceived Social Support Scale (PSSS) in healthy volunteers (144 men and 203 women; mean age = 19.9; SD = 1.33, age range : 17-27). As a result, multiple regression analysis revealed that the PSSS scores were significantly and positively correlated with gray matter volume in a cluster that mainly included areas in posterior parts of posterior cingulate cortex, bilateral lingual cortex, left occipital lobe and cuneus. Highly-supported individuals had larger gray matter volume in these brain regions, implying a relatively high level of ability to engage in self-referential processes and social cognition. Our results provide a biological basis for exploring perceived social support particularly in relationship to various health parameters and outcomes.

The literature has shown that self-compassion is a protective factor of an individual’s emotional response to chronic stress. However, this stress-buffering effect has not been completely analyzed in individuals who report significantly high academic stress. The present study explored the role of self-compassion in a group of undergraduate students who experience chronic academic stress. A total of 208 undergraduate students who were preparing for the Postgraduate Entrance Examination (PEE) were recruited and completed the Self-Compassion Scale, Adolescent Self-Rating Life Event Check List, and Positive and Negative Affect Schedule. Differences analysis confirmed that the participants reported significantly higher academic stress than their peers who were not preparing for PEE. Self-compassion positively related to positive affect but negatively related to negative affect and learning stress. Further analysis showed that self-compassion negatively mediated the relationship between chronic academic stress and negative affect. Findings imply that self-compassion-centered interventions can be developed in the educational context to assist students cope with chronic academic stress.

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