Social support imbalance and depressive symptoms in young adolescents: the negative effect of giving but not receiving

GALLAGHER, STEPHEN; HAUGH, CHLOE; CASTRO SOLANO, ALEJANDRO; DE LA IGLESIA, GUADALUPE; MCMAHON, JENNIFER

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADOLESCENCE AND YOUTH

Routdledge. Taylor and Francis

Lugar: Oxfordshire; Año: 2022 vol. 27 p. 528 - 540

0267-3843

This study examined associations between receiving and giving support,and their imbalance on depression symptoms in adolescents. Our sampleincluded 2,111 young adolescents drawn from 6th Wave European SocialSurvey who completed measures of social support and the Centre forEpidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D). A hierarchical linear regressiondemonstrated that both receiving and giving social support were associatedwith a 51% and 34% reduced risk of being depressed, respectively.However, analysis of group differences indicated those high on both giving/receiving, that is, a positive balance, reported less depression, compared tothose with a negative balance, that is, low on both, with the highestsymptoms observed by those reporting a negative imbalance, that is, highgiving and low receiving social support. While there are benefits to receivingand giving social support, there is also a cost when this is imbalanced.Our findings are discussed from an equity theory and lifespan perspective.