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The roles of different sources of social support on emotional well-being among Chinese elderly.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Social 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 FINDINGS: In 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. CONCLUSION: Family 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.

SUBMITTER: Li H

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3940715 | biostudies-other | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Project description:BackgroundLow maternal self-efficacy and high levels of anxiety, depression, and stress can be triggered in adolescent mothers due to an incomplete development process that makes them physically or psychologically unprepared for the responsibilities of motherhood and parenting. These factors may be linked to difficulties with their children's social-emotional development. The present study aims to: (a) analyze the relationship between maternal self-efficacy and stress, depression, and anxiety levels in low-income adolescent mothers; (b) examine the relationship between maternal self-efficacy and well-being with children's social-emotional development; and (c) describe the effects of maternal self-efficacy on children's social-emotional development, mediated by maternal well-being.MethodsA sample of 79 dyads comprising low-income Chilean adolescent mothers aged from 15 to 21 years old (M = 19.1, SD = 1.66) and their children aged 10 to 24 months (M = 15.5, SD = 4.2) participated in this research. A set of psychometric scales was used to measure maternal self-efficacy (Parental Evaluation Scale, EEP), the mothers' anxiety and depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, HADS), maternal stress (Parental Stress Scale, PSS), and the children's social-emotional development (Ages and Stages Questionnaire Socio-emotional, ASQ-SE). Bivariate analyses and mediation models were employed to estimate and test the relevant relationships.ResultsA bivariate analysis showed that maternal self-efficacy was negatively related to the mother's anxiety, depression, and stress. Moreover, there was a significant relationship between maternal self-efficacy and maternal stress, and children's self-regulation and social-emotional development. Maternal self-efficacy, mediated by maternal anxiety, depression, and stress scores, had a significant effect on the development of children's self-regulation.ConclusionsThe results confirm the importance of adolescent mothers' emotional well-being and maternal self- efficacy with respect to their children's social-emotional development. This makes it necessary to have detailed information about how emotional and self-perception status influences a mother's role in the development of her children.

Project description:There has been strong interest in intergenerational arts practice in the United Kingdom since the 1980s; however, there is a generally weak evidence base for the effectiveness of intergenerational practice regardless of the domain. The aim of this study was to investigate the outcomes of an intergenerational arts project on participants' social and psychological well-being using a mixed-methods, short-term longitudinal design. Generations Dancing brought together community artists with students (n = 25) and older adults (n = 11) living in Bedford. Over an 11-week period, participants worked together to produce a new dance performance and photography exhibition. Focus groups were conducted with the participants to explore their feelings about the collaboration across generations and communities. Participants also completed a battery of questionnaires preproject and postproject, to assess any change in their levels of well-being. Results indicate that the older adults showed increased confidence and willingness to connect with others; they got immense enjoyment from talking about their experience with others. Furthermore, the project helped to address negative stereotypes that the older adults had of working with the young people. The older adults enjoyed the students' company and felt encouraged and supported by the young people. While a small number of challenges were identified, including difficulties in traveling to the workshops for vulnerable participants, most challenges were overcome through the older adults' engagement in the project. For example, initial anxieties regarding the performance seemed insufficient to affect the participants' overall enjoyment of the project. The findings were supported by the increased scores in relatedness, affect, and social well-being over time, but were not statistically significant. The results of this study indicate that intergenerational dance and arts projects can have wide-reaching positive impacts on both social and psychological well-being. However, there were a number of methodological challenges, including difficulty in recruiting sufficient numbers of both experimental and control groups for a robust quantitative evaluation of the data. These challenges highlight that "real life" settings and scenarios can influence the amount, nature, validity, and reliability of data collected. Going forward we encourage researchers to continue to consider innovative ways to address such methodological challenges.

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The roles of different sources of social support on emotional well-being among Chinese elderly.

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