Lan Jin
Purdue Univeristy, USA
Title: Mechanism underlying pathways among social support message quality, social support satisfaction and depression with acculturation as a mediator
Biography
Biography: Lan Jin
Abstract
Social support is recognized as essential for mental health, offering effective assistance to buffer negative effects of life stress. This study examines the relationships among social support message quality, support satisfaction, and depression in college students in the U.S. Th e demographic profi les of US universities have undergone a rapid change with a large increasing number of international students with the heightened risk of depression. International students who are low acculturated may be marginalized from the mainstream and receive limited support while facing academic, social, and financial difficulties. Thus the study further examines the above relationships amongst them and tests the mediating effect of acculturation on the relationship between support quality and depression. Participants were 631 undergraduate students in a Midwest university. Data was analyzed using structural equation modeling. In the overall sample, the study showed that (1) more helpful and sensitive support messages contributed to a higher level of support satisfaction, in turn, (2) more satisfaction led to fewer depressive symptoms; in the meantime, (3) higher quality of support messages (helpful and sensitive) reduced depressive symptoms. In international students, (4) more helpful and sensitive support messages were related to more satisfaction with social support and (5) associated with a lower level of depression; and (6) acculturation mediated the eff ect of support quality on depression. Intervention programs focusing on improving quality of the supportive networks and increasing support satisfaction would strengthen the protective eff ect of social support on reducing depression. Th e results call for culturally adapted interventions that would help international students negotiate depression.