Cargando…

Social networks, social support and psychiatric symptoms: social determinants and associations within a multicultural community population

PURPOSE: Little is known about how social networks and social support are distributed within diverse communities and how different types of each are associated with a range of psychiatric symptoms. This study aims to address such shortcomings by: (1) describing the demographic and socioeconomic char...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Smyth, Natasha, Siriwardhana, Chesmal, Hotopf, Matthew, Hatch, Stephani L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4464053/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25106666
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00127-014-0943-8
_version_ 1782375882258644992
author Smyth, Natasha
Siriwardhana, Chesmal
Hotopf, Matthew
Hatch, Stephani L.
author_facet Smyth, Natasha
Siriwardhana, Chesmal
Hotopf, Matthew
Hatch, Stephani L.
author_sort Smyth, Natasha
collection PubMed
description PURPOSE: Little is known about how social networks and social support are distributed within diverse communities and how different types of each are associated with a range of psychiatric symptoms. This study aims to address such shortcomings by: (1) describing the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of social networks and social support in a multicultural population and (2) examining how each is associated with multiple mental health outcomes. METHODS: Data is drawn from the South East London Community Health Study; a cross-sectional study of 1,698 adults conducted between 2008 and 2010. RESULTS: The findings demonstrate variation in social networks and social support by socio-demographic factors. Ethnic minority groups reported larger family networks but less perceived instrumental support. Older individuals and migrant groups reported lower levels of particular network and support types. Individuals from lower socioeconomic groups tended to report less social networks and support across the indicators measured. Perceived emotional and instrumental support, family and friend network size emerged as protective factors for common mental disorder, personality dysfunction and psychotic experiences. In contrast, both social networks and social support appear less relevant for hazardous alcohol use. CONCLUSIONS: The findings both confirm established knowledge that social networks and social support exert differential effects on mental health and furthermore suggest that the particular type of social support may be important. In contrast, different types of social network appear to impact upon poor mental health in a more uniform way. Future psychosocial strategies promoting mental health should consider which social groups are vulnerable to reduced social networks and poor social support and which diagnostic groups may benefit most.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-4464053
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2014
publisher Springer Berlin Heidelberg
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-44640532015-06-17 Social networks, social support and psychiatric symptoms: social determinants and associations within a multicultural community population Smyth, Natasha Siriwardhana, Chesmal Hotopf, Matthew Hatch, Stephani L. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol Original Paper PURPOSE: Little is known about how social networks and social support are distributed within diverse communities and how different types of each are associated with a range of psychiatric symptoms. This study aims to address such shortcomings by: (1) describing the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of social networks and social support in a multicultural population and (2) examining how each is associated with multiple mental health outcomes. METHODS: Data is drawn from the South East London Community Health Study; a cross-sectional study of 1,698 adults conducted between 2008 and 2010. RESULTS: The findings demonstrate variation in social networks and social support by socio-demographic factors. Ethnic minority groups reported larger family networks but less perceived instrumental support. Older individuals and migrant groups reported lower levels of particular network and support types. Individuals from lower socioeconomic groups tended to report less social networks and support across the indicators measured. Perceived emotional and instrumental support, family and friend network size emerged as protective factors for common mental disorder, personality dysfunction and psychotic experiences. In contrast, both social networks and social support appear less relevant for hazardous alcohol use. CONCLUSIONS: The findings both confirm established knowledge that social networks and social support exert differential effects on mental health and furthermore suggest that the particular type of social support may be important. In contrast, different types of social network appear to impact upon poor mental health in a more uniform way. Future psychosocial strategies promoting mental health should consider which social groups are vulnerable to reduced social networks and poor social support and which diagnostic groups may benefit most. Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2014-08-09 2015 /pmc/articles/PMC4464053/ /pubmed/25106666 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00127-014-0943-8 Text en © The Author(s) 2014 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.
spellingShingle Original Paper
Smyth, Natasha
Siriwardhana, Chesmal
Hotopf, Matthew
Hatch, Stephani L.
Social networks, social support and psychiatric symptoms: social determinants and associations within a multicultural community population
title Social networks, social support and psychiatric symptoms: social determinants and associations within a multicultural community population
title_full Social networks, social support and psychiatric symptoms: social determinants and associations within a multicultural community population
title_fullStr Social networks, social support and psychiatric symptoms: social determinants and associations within a multicultural community population
title_full_unstemmed Social networks, social support and psychiatric symptoms: social determinants and associations within a multicultural community population
title_short Social networks, social support and psychiatric symptoms: social determinants and associations within a multicultural community population
title_sort social networks, social support and psychiatric symptoms: social determinants and associations within a multicultural community population
topic Original Paper
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4464053/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25106666
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00127-014-0943-8
work_keys_str_mv AT smythnatasha socialnetworkssocialsupportandpsychiatricsymptomssocialdeterminantsandassociationswithinamulticulturalcommunitypopulation
AT siriwardhanachesmal socialnetworkssocialsupportandpsychiatricsymptomssocialdeterminantsandassociationswithinamulticulturalcommunitypopulation
AT hotopfmatthew socialnetworkssocialsupportandpsychiatricsymptomssocialdeterminantsandassociationswithinamulticulturalcommunitypopulation
AT hatchstephanil socialnetworkssocialsupportandpsychiatricsymptomssocialdeterminantsandassociationswithinamulticulturalcommunitypopulation