{"title":"Does Online Social Support Uniquely Buffer Effects of Stress During the COVID-19 Pandemic?: A Natural Experiment.","authors":"Madison L Eamiello, Allecia Reid","doi":"10.1111/spc3.12836","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In-person sources of social support buffer effects of stress on mental health. However, online social support inconsistently demonstrates stress-buffering effects. Highly stressful circumstances, such as the first month of COVID-19 lockdown, may be necessary to benefit from support received from online networks. We investigated whether online support demonstrated an increased stress-buffering effect on depressive symptoms during the first month of COVID-19 lockdown. We collected cross-sectional data on three distinct groups of participants from February to April 2020-preceding lockdown (pre-COVID; <i>n</i> = 53), up to four weeks following university closures (initial lockdown; <i>n</i> = 136), and the final weeks of the semester (later lockdown; <i>n</i> = 127). Initial lockdown participants reported significantly more stress than pre-COVID but not later lockdown participants. The online social support by stress by COVID phase interaction was only significant for the initial versus later lockdown comparison. Online support buffered stress during initial lockdown but not later lockdown. Stress-buffering effects of offline support were observed and did not depend on COVID phase. Online support may only buffer stress when stress is heightened and offline support is less available.</p>","PeriodicalId":10671,"journal":{"name":"Clinical Neurophysiology","volume":"125 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7000,"publicationDate":"2023-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11340688/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Clinical Neurophysiology","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12836","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2023/7/14 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CLINICAL NEUROLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
In-person sources of social support buffer effects of stress on mental health. However, online social support inconsistently demonstrates stress-buffering effects. Highly stressful circumstances, such as the first month of COVID-19 lockdown, may be necessary to benefit from support received from online networks. We investigated whether online support demonstrated an increased stress-buffering effect on depressive symptoms during the first month of COVID-19 lockdown. We collected cross-sectional data on three distinct groups of participants from February to April 2020-preceding lockdown (pre-COVID; n = 53), up to four weeks following university closures (initial lockdown; n = 136), and the final weeks of the semester (later lockdown; n = 127). Initial lockdown participants reported significantly more stress than pre-COVID but not later lockdown participants. The online social support by stress by COVID phase interaction was only significant for the initial versus later lockdown comparison. Online support buffered stress during initial lockdown but not later lockdown. Stress-buffering effects of offline support were observed and did not depend on COVID phase. Online support may only buffer stress when stress is heightened and offline support is less available.
期刊介绍:
As of January 1999, The journal Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, and its two sections Electromyography and Motor Control and Evoked Potentials have amalgamated to become this journal - Clinical Neurophysiology.
Clinical Neurophysiology is the official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology, the Brazilian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology, the Czech Society of Clinical Neurophysiology, the Italian Clinical Neurophysiology Society and the International Society of Intraoperative Neurophysiology.The journal is dedicated to fostering research and disseminating information on all aspects of both normal and abnormal functioning of the nervous system. The key aim of the publication is to disseminate scholarly reports on the pathophysiology underlying diseases of the central and peripheral nervous system of human patients. Clinical trials that use neurophysiological measures to document change are encouraged, as are manuscripts reporting data on integrated neuroimaging of central nervous function including, but not limited to, functional MRI, MEG, EEG, PET and other neuroimaging modalities.