Social Support and Psychological Adjustment Among College Adults

Introduction: We were interested in building on previous studies showing the promotive and buffering roles of social support for emerging adults We tested the associations of multiple domains of social support (i e , family, friends) with measures of adjustment and adversity Methods: Across four studies, U S college adults reported on domains of social support (family, friends, significant other), psychological adjustment (i e , life satisfaction, flourishing), and psychological adversity (i e , recent stress, depressive symptoms) Studies 1 and 4 were cross-sectional, whereas Studies 2 and 3 involved two, monthly survey reports Study 4 was completed against the backdrop of early COVID-19 disruptions for college adults in the Spring of 2020 Results: In each study, each domain of social support was positively correlated with measures of adjustment and negatively correlated with measures of adversity Partial correlations indicated that support from friends was incrementally associated with nearly every outcome, whereas support from family was incrementally associated with a majority of outcomes Multiphase studies supported unidirectional, but not bidirectional, effects from earlier adjustment onto later social support Discussion: Overall, findings reinforce the importance of social support for young adults and highlight the distinct importance of family and friends Findings also suggest that a lack of perceived social support may contribute to risks fitting views such as the stress generation theory among emerging adults [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Social & Clinical Psychology is the property of Guilford Publications Inc and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use This abstract may be abridged No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract (Copyright applies to all Abstracts )