Social support as a protective factor against depressive symptoms: A review

Abstract

INTRODUCTION – Social support means having friends and other people, including family, to turn to in times of need or crisis to give you a broader focus and positive self-image. Friend ships and other people, especially family, may provide you with a larger focus and a positive self-image in times of need or disaster. Social support improves one's quality of life and acts as a protective shield against adversity. Family, friends, coworkers, and others can provide you with physical and emotional assistance in the form of social support. It knows that you're part of a community that loves and cares for you, values you, and admires you. Social support enhances students' self-esteem, which, in turn, promotes their academic achievement and relieves their emotional exhaustion. Studies have also shown that family support can effectively help students cope with difficult situations, reduce mental stress, and prevent mental health problems, thereby maintaining their mental health development (Chang et al., 2020). METHOD-A comprehensive systematic search of published literature and journal articles from Google Scholar, Pub Med, MEDLINE and EBSCO was taken. Search strategy specific to each data repository was used. During initial search 528 titles were retrieved and finally 30 empirical researches were selected based on the inclusion criteria. RESULT –Total 30 articles were selected and resulted that the theoretical efforts have also been conducted to explore the relation between social support and depression. CONCLUSION-The conclusion drawn from the review depicted that perceived social support from family and friends were significantly related to lower depressive symptoms. Social support was found to be more protective against depressive symptoms.