Browsing by Author "Hietala, Marika"

Goals: The goal of this study was to find out how social support from different sources (family, friends and significant other) is connected with depressive symptoms among adolescents and young adults. It was also investigated whether the significance of different sources of support changes as the adolescents mature. Depression is one of the most common mental health disorder in the world. Its incidence rises sharply after puberty and, if left untreated, it can have serious consequences for the wellbeing, health and development of adolescents. A number of previous studies have shown that social support is inversely connected with depressive symptoms in all ages and social contexts. Most studies of social support have used assessment instruments measuring perceived social support, which is an individual's cognitive appraisals of the availability of support in times of need. Social support can enhance mental health by buffering the negative effects of stressful life events or by having direct positive effects on well-being. According to Bronfenbrenner's ecological system's theory, the development of adolescents was examined in the context of their changing social networks. Adolescents usually receive support from multiple sources. Most of them maintain good relationships with their parents across the young age. However, when adolescents become more independent from their parents, relationships with friends and significant others usually become closer and more important. Methods: The data was from the national Young Finns Study psychology part conducted in 1992 and 1997. In 1992, there were 2330 participants who were 15-30 years old. Thus, in 1997 the participants were 20-35 years old. There were 1678 participants who answered questionnaires both in 1992 and in 1997. The data was analyzed using one-way variance analysis and linear regression. Results and conclusions: The participants perceived quite a lot of social support. The youngest group (15-18 years old) received less support from friends and significant others than their older counterparts. However, the level of family support was equal in all age groups. Support from both family and friends was inversely connected with depressive symptoms: the more the participant received social support, the fewer depressive symptoms she/he had. However, support from the significant other was not connected with depressive symptoms. The connection between social support from different sources and depressive symptoms was similar across different age groups. In five years follow-up, social support was only slightly connected with depressive symptoms. The connection was stronger in women than in men, but the differences were small. In order to tackle depression, it is important for adolescents to receive enough support from their families and also have positive peer relations in addition to the family social environment