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Reciprocal Relationship between Social Support and Psychological Distress among a National Sample of Older Adults: An Autoregressive Cross-Lagged Model*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2012

Annie Robitaille ,
Heather Orpana  and
Cameron N. McIntosh
Annie Robitaille*
Affiliation:
University of Victoria, Canada
Heather Orpana
Affiliation:
University of Ottawa, Canada
Cameron N. McIntosh
Affiliation:
Statistical Consultant, Ottawa, Canada
*
†Correspondence and requests for offprints should be sent to / La correspondance et les demandes de tirés-à-part doivent être adressées à: Annie Robitaille, Ph.D Department of Psychology University of Victoria P.O. Box 3050 Victoria, BC V8W 3P5 (annie.g.robitaille@gmail.com)
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Abstract

In this study we examined the longitudinal relationships between five dimensions of social support and psychological distress to determine whether (1) social support was related to subsequent psychological distress levels; or (2) if distress levels were related to subsequent social support levels; or (3) if distress and support had a reciprocal (bi-directional) relationship across time. Using bivariate autoregressive cross-lagged models, we analysed data from 2,564 older adults. We found support for the reciprocal relationship between affectionate support and distress. Higher psychological distress was related to subsequently higher levels of positive social interaction, and significantly related to subsequently higher emotional/informational support. No significant relationship was found between tangible and structural support and psychological distress. This study demonstrates that different types of support are associated in correspondingly different ways with psychological distress, and that psychological distress may be important in predicting levels of social support two years later.

Résumé

Dans cette étude, nous avons examiné les relations longitudinales entre les cinq dimensions de soutien social et la détresse psychologique afin de déterminer si (1) le soutien social est lié à niveaux subséquentes de la détresse psychologique ; ou (2) si les niveaux de détresse psychologique ont été liés à des niveaux ultérieurs de soutien social ; ou (3) si la détresse et le soutien avaient une relation réciproque (bi-directionnel) à travers le temps. L’étude a examiné le rapport bidirectionnel longitudinal entre les dimensions différentes du soutien social et la détresse psychologique, en utilisant un modèle autorégressif de corrélation avec décalage pour cinq périodes de données. Nous avons trouvé des preuves (d’appui) de la relation réciproque entre le soutien affectueux et la détresse. L’augmentation de la détresse psychologique etait liée à des niveaux élevés de la suite des interactions sociales positives et significativement liée a un soutien par la suite plus émotionnel et informationnel. Aucune relation significative n’a été trouvée entre un soutien tangible et structurelle et la détresse psychologique. Cette étude démontre que les différents types de soutien sont associés avec la détresse psychologique d’une manière correspondante et que la détresse psychologique peut être important, deux ans plus tard, pour prévoir des niveaux de soutien social.

Keywords

vieillissementdétresse psychologiquemodèle autorégressif de corrélation avec décalagesoutien socialétude longitudinaleagingpsychological distressautoregressive cross-lagged modelsocial supportlongitudinal study
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 31 , Issue 1 , March 2012 , pp. 13 - 24
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 2012

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Footnotes

*

This study was supported by the Fonds de recherche en santé du Québec Doctoral Training Scholarship and the Statistics Canada Tom Symons Research Stipend Program awarded to the first author.

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