The Influence of Providing and Receiving Social Support on Older Adults' Well-being

• Published in: Clinical practice and epidemiology in mental health Vol. 18; no. 1; p. e174501792112241
• Main Authors: Zanjari, Nasibeh, Momtaz, Yadollah Abolfathi, Kamal, Seyed Hossein Mohaqeqi, Basakha, Mehdi, Ahmadi, Sina
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United Arab Emirates 2022
• Subjects: Demographics; Providing social support; Cognition; Well-being; Receiving social support; Older adults
• ISSN: 1745-0179; 1745-0179
• DOI: 10.2174/17450179-v18-e2112241

Social support is a leading contributing factor for older adults' well-being. The present study aimed to compare the impact of two-way (providing and receiving) social support on the well-being of Iranian older adults.
The present cross-sectional study was conducted on 1280 community-dwelling older adults in Tehran, Iran, 2020. The researcher used the clustered sampling method and the 2-way Social Support Scale (SSS) to collect samples and measure social support, respectively. The well-being was measured by the self-reported World Health Organization-Five Well-Being Index (WHO-5). Bivariate and hierarchical linear regression analyses were performed to compare the effects of social support aspects on well-being. Data were analyzed using SPSS 20.0. A significance level of p≤0.05 was considered statistically significant.
The mean age of the respondents was 70.90 (SD=8.07), and about 70% of the sample was married. The mean scores of taking and providing social support were 20.70 ±7.52 and 17.71 ±7.82, respectively. The hierarchical regression analysis revealed that providing social support is significantly associated with the well-being of older adults beyond and over receiving social support and possible contributing factors (∆F=30.25; ∆R2= 0.39, p<0.05).
The results showed that providing social support is more important than receiving it. Older adults should participate in social activities to provide social support.