Heterogeneous influences of social support on physical and mental health: Evidence from China

Abstract

Employing a national representative survey (the China Labor-force Dynamics Survey 2016, CLDS2016) data (N = 14246), this paper examines the heterogeneous influences of social support on individual physical and mental health in China. Social support is characterized by four dimensions: emotional support, tangible or instrumental support, interaction or exchange support, and community support. Physical health is measured by self-rated health and body mass index (BMI), while mental health is measured by depression, hopelessness, failure, fear, loneliness, and meaninglessness. The results indicate that different dimensions of social support have heterogeneous effects on individual physical and mental health. Specifically, the correlation between emotional support and individual physical health is not significant, but emotional support is significantly related to some mental health variables. Tangible or instrumental support is significantly related to individual self-rated physical health but not to BMI or mental health. Interaction or exchange support is significantly correlated with individual self-rated health and some mental health variables. In general, there are significant correlations between community support, and individual physical and mental health. The results also suggest that the influences of social support on physical and mental health of individuals at different ages (<60 years and ≥60 years) are heterogeneous. The results of this study provide direction for the dimension selection of social support to promote individual health.