The Roles of Different Sources of Social Support on Emotional Well-Being among Chinese Elderly

Abstract

BackgroundSocial support has been widely known as a protective factor for the emotional well-being (EWB) of older adults, but less studies have investigated the roles of different sources of social support (i.e., family and friend support) on different facets of EWB (i.e., positive affect and negative affect) simultaneously.Methodology and FindingsIn this study, the associations between family/friend support and positive/negative affect were investigated in a sample of 700 Chinese elderly. The EWB and social support were measured with a 12-item affective wordlist (Kahneman et al., 2004) and a self-prepared questionnaire. The results showed that (1) the order of contact frequency and mutual support followed a hierarchical order from spouse, children, to friends; (2) zero-order correlations of both family support and friend support were associated with more positive affect and less negative affect; and when compared with the relative role of family and friend support, (3) spouse (children if spouse is not available) support had greater contribution on decreasing negative affect, while friend support had greater influence on increasing positive affect, even after controlling the demographic, self-rated health and life events variables.ConclusionFamily and friend support play different roles on the two facets of EWB of the elderly. These results were better explained in light of the task specificity model rather than the hierarchical compensatory model. Moreover, positive affect may be enhanced by friend support (based on personal interests and selectable) rather than family support (bonded by kinship and not selectable), which added evidences to the socioemotional selectivity theory.

The Influence of Perceived Social Support and Self-Efficacy on Resilience among First Year Malaysian Students

“…It appears that young adults tend to readily disclose their problems to friends rather than family members. However, this is in contrast to results reported by Li, Ji and Chen (2014) showing that family support is essential in reducing negative emotions among the elderly, and was more important than support from friends. One possible explanation for this difference is that young adults, unlike the elderly, are more comfortable with friends and tend to perceive friends as being more capable of giving them the understanding and support they seek.…”

“…Though some studies have found that "significant other" does enhance resilience (Cohen, 2004;Rahimi and Bigdeli, 2014;Li, Ji and Chen, 2014), we found no support for this. This could be because most first-year university students tend to focus on adjusting to college life and their studies rather than engaging in a long-term commitment with a "significant other".…”

“…The connection between perceived social support and resilience has long been recognised, but not much has been done in terms of conceptualising it in relation to resilience (Armstrong, Bernie-Leftkovich and Ungar, 2005). A similar view was echoed by a later study (Li, Ji and Chen, 2014) that argued though perceived social support was a well-known protective factor that promoted wellbeing, few studies have examined the role of different types of perceived social support, let alone link it with resilience. In this study, different types of perceived social support (from family, friends and significant other) are posited to predict resilience positively, as indicated by the unidirectional bold line linking "social support" to "resilience".…”

Financial Interdependence among Malay Older People in the Community: An interpretative phenomenological analysis

“…To the older people, it is very comforting and reassuring to have someone they can rely on in a time of need. Knowing the continuous availability of someone who is caring and can always be relied upon for help can increase their sense of self-worth and emotional support for better physical QoL (Ibrahim, Abolfathi Momtaz & Hamid, 2013) and wellbeing (Li, Ji and Chen, 2014). Hence, the objective of this study is to identify and improve our understanding on the detail constructs of financial interdependence among the Malay older people who lived in the community in Malaysia by exploring their economic support or dependence with others.…”

Equidad en el apoyo social recíproco y satisfacción vital en personas mayores

“…Las relaciones con otros familiares adultos, principalmente los hermanos, apenas han sido estudiadas (Thomas, 2010;Voorpostel, Lippe, Dykstra, & Flap, 2007). Fuera del entorno familiar, los amigos y vecinos constituyen alrededor de la mitad de la red social más activa, pero se sabe poco sobre su impacto en el bienestar de las personas mayores (De Jong Gierveld, & Perlman, 2006;Li, Ji, & Chen, 2014).…”