Role of perceived social support in depressive and somatic symptoms experienced by Bedouin Arab and Jewish Israeli undergraduates

Abstract

Elevated levels of depressive and somatic symptoms have been documented among college students. Over the past two decades, there has been an increase in the number of Bedouin Arab students studying at institutions of higher education in southern Israel. To date, research on coping and mental health problems among students who are members of this ethnic minority has been limited. This study examined the role of three aspects of perceived social support – availability, satisfaction, and the ability to get emotional support – in predicting depressive and somatic symptoms among Jewish Israeli and Bedouin Arab college students. A total of 89 Bedouin and 101 Jewish first-year students participated in this study, which involved two assessment waves 12 to 14 months apart. Participants completed questionnaires assessing depressive symptoms, somatic complaints, three aspects of perceived social support, and demographics. At Time 1, Bedouin students exhibited higher levels of depressive and somatic symptoms and lower levels of all three aspects of social support. Regression analyses showed that level of emotional support was a prospective predictor of somatization at Time 2. Moreover, when levels of emotional support were low, ethnic group predicted depression at Time 2; emotional support predicted depression only among Bedouin Arabs. The present study highlights the importance of the use of emotional support in predicting somatic complaints and depressive symptoms specifically among Bedouin Arab students. Clinical implications on intervention programs for ethnic minority students will be discussed.

Social Support Among Male Undergraduates: A Systematic Review

“…Five broad categories were identified within which the recent literature on social support among male undergraduates had been conducted, namely psychological outcomes, academic achievement, technology use, sources of social support, and gender differences in social support. Overall, the impact of social support on all variables related to psychological outcomes was found to be positive, with findings showing negative correlation between social support and depression (Abu-Kaf et al, 2018;Roohafza et al, 2016;Tang & Dai, 2018;Vungkhanching et al, 2016), anxiety (Roohafza et al, 2016;Vungkhanching et al, 2016), stress (Marhamah & Hamzah, 2016;Vungkhanching et al, 2016), neuroticism (Roohafza et al, 2016), negative effects (Wang et al, 2016) and positive correlation between social support and sense of coherence (Bíró et al, 2016), relationship status (Adamczyk, 2015), positive effects (Wang et al, 2016), workplace engagement (Kim et al, 2016), emotional regulation (You et al, 2017), fewer mental health symptoms (Ceglarek & Ward, 2016) and cultural adaptation (Ng et al, 2017). Social support emerged as a predictor of emotional distress (Llamas et al, 2018;Wongtongkam, 2019), stress (Yıldırım et al, 2017), marginalization (Llamas et al, 2018) and cultural adaptation (Ng et al, 2017).…”

“…A total of 30 studies were found that adhered to the inclusion criteria set for the systematic review. Of these, 16 focused on social support and psychological outcomes (Abu-Kaf et al, 2018;Adamczyk, 2015;Bíró, Veres-Balajti, & Kósa, 2016;Ceglarek & Ward, 2016;Frison & Eggermont, 2015;Kim, Kim, & Lee, 2016;Llamas, Morgan Consoli, Hendricks, & Nguyen, 2018;Marhamah & Hamzah, 2016;Ng, Wang, & Chan, 2017;Roohafza et al, 2016;Tang & Dai, 2018;Vungkhanching, Tonsing, & Tonsing, 2016;Wang, Sun, & Wang, 2016;Wongtongkam, 2019;Yıldırım, Karaca, Cangur, Acıkgoz, & Akkus, 2017;You, Lim, & Kim, 2017); 3 focused on social support and academic achievement (Bai et al, al., 2018; Rodríguez et al, 2017); 4 focused on social support and technology use (Deechuay, Koul, Maneewan & Lerdpornkulrat, 2016;Gökçearslan, Uluyol & Şahin, 2018;Shah, Siddiqui & Ansari, 2016;; 4 focused on sources of social support (Bhochhibhoya et al, 2017;Chuah & Singh, 2016;Lee & Goldstein, 2016;Rios & Eaton, 2016); and 3 focused exclusively on gender differences in social support (Lin, 2016;Zamani-Alavijeh, Raeesi Dehkordi, & Shahry, 2017;Zhang, Zhapng, Zhang, Zhang, & Feng, 2018). All studies except one were quantitative.…”

“…Students may experience challenges due to individual goals, adjustment in the new atmosphere, interactions with professors, financial strain, and academic pressure (Marhamah & Hamzah, 2016). Research findings suggest that students may experience depression, anxiety, and psychological distress while studying as undergraduates (Abu-Kaf, Shahar, Noyman-Veksler, & Priel, 2018;Marhamah & Hamzah, 2016;Roohafza et al, 2016;Tang & Dai, 2018;Vungkhanching et al, 2016). The well-being of undergraduates may be at risk, with significant social consequences, due to academic problems, familial separation, and alteration in location (Vungkhanching et al, 2016).…”

Acculturative Stress among Arab Students in Israel: The Roles of Sense of Coherence and Coping Strategies

“…Therefore, future research should include students from wider range of Israeli academic institutions and the generalizability of the current finding should be evaluated. Another avenue for future research might be to extend the present model by examining cultural factors such as self-construal, collectivism level, and somatization, which may be important indicators of psychological distress in Arab cultural contexts [50,91,92].…”

Analysis of the Differential Relationship between the Perception of One’s Life and Coping Resources among Three Generations of Bedouin Women

“…However, it seems that overall, among Arabs from various areas in Israel, similar to those living in other Western cultures, the implementation of problem-solving strategies acts as a protective factor whereas the implementation of emotional coping strategies seems to be maladaptive and results in more psychological problems and poorer wellbeing [11,12,13,14]. More specifically, among Bedouin women, seeking social support and regulating feelings and actions were found to be related to lower levels of wellbeing [15]. An exception for the well-known relationships between emotional coping and mental health was observed for the specific coping strategy of accepting responsibility.…”