New Study Explores How Social Support Buffers Stress in College Students
Yıldırım, M., & Green, Z. A. (2024). Social support and resilience mediate the relationship of stress with satisfaction with life and flourishing of youth. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 52(4), 685-696.
Introduction
The modern youth experience is fraught with stressors, from academic pressures to social challenges, which can significantly impact well-being. In this study, Yıldırım and Green (2024) explore whether social support and resilience mediate the relationship between perceived stress and two key dimensions of well-being: satisfaction with life and flourishing. This commentary provides an in-depth analysis of the study, examining its theoretical foundations, methodological rigor, key findings, and implications for mentoring programs.
Methods
The study employed a cross-sectional design, collecting data from 230 undergraduate students in Turkey. Participants ranged in age from 18 to 29 years, with a mean age of 23.75 years. The sample was balanced by gender (54% male, 46% female) and predominantly of middle socioeconomic status. Data were gathered through an online survey disseminated via social media platforms.
Perceived stress was assessed using the Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen et al., 1983), social support was evaluated using the Brief Perceived Social Support Questionnaire (Kliem et al., 2015), and resilience was measured with the Brief Resilience Scale (Smith et al., 2008), assessing the ability to recover from stress. Satisfaction with life was gauged using the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener et al., 1985), while flourishing was assessed with the Flourishing Scale (Diener et al., 2010), reflecting holistic well-being.
Results
Perceived stress was negatively associated with social support and resilience, indicating that higher stress levels corresponded to lower levels of these psychological resources. In turn, social support and resilience were positively related to both satisfaction with life and flourishing, suggesting that these resources bolster well-being.
Crucially, the mediation analysis revealed that perceived stress was indirectly related to satisfaction with life through social support and resilience. Specifically, while perceived stress did not directly predict satisfaction with life, its negative impact was counteracted by the positive effects of social support and resilience. This suggests that youth who experience high stress but possess strong social networks and resilient coping skills can maintain a positive evaluation of their life quality.
In contrast, perceived stress was both directly and indirectly related to flourishing. Perceived stress exerted a direct negative effect on flourishing, highlighting its detrimental impact on holistic well-being. However, this effect was partially offset by the protective roles of social support and resilience, which promoted flourishing by fostering emotional, social, and psychological growth.
Discussion
The study highlights the dual pathway through which perceived stress influences well-being: a direct pathway affecting flourishing and an indirect pathway mediated by social support and resilience that influences both flourishing and life satisfaction.
This dual pathway suggests that stress exerts a more pervasive impact on holistic well-being (flourishing) compared to cognitive evaluations of life quality (satisfaction with life). The findings challenge the notion that stress uniformly undermines well-being, instead suggesting that the availability of social and psychological resources can modulate this impact.
Implications for Mentoring Programs
- Cultivate Social Support: Mentors can provide emotional support, encouragement, and a sense of belonging, enhancing mentees’ perceived social support. Mentors can also support their mentee in growing their own social support network, building the mentee’s overall social capital.
- Support Mentee Skill Building: Mentors can model adaptive coping strategies, encourage problem-solving skills, and help mentees reframe stressors as opportunities for growth. Structured mentoring activities focused on resilience-building can empower youth to navigate challenges more effectively.
- Enhance Flourishing: Incorporating positive psychology interventions, such as strengths-based mentoring, can enhance holistic well-being. Training for mentors can focus on methods to promote flourishing in youth.
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