Provision of social support and mental health in U.S. military veterans

Abstract

While social support has been linked to better health, most research has focused on the receipt of social support. In this study, we evaluated associations between provided support and mental health in a nationally representative cohort of 4069 US veterans. The majority (60–72%) of veterans reported providing support on a consistent basis. Veterans who scored higher on certain aspects of personality (i.e., agreeableness, conscientiousness, and extraversion) and received greater support were more likely to provide support. Further, each standard deviation increase in provided support was independently associated with 22–32% reduced odds of internalizing psychiatric disorders and suicidal ideation, and veterans who scored higher on both provided and received support had 3.5- to 14-fold lower odds of these outcomes relative to those with high received support but low provided support. Results suggest that interventions to promote the provision of support may help mitigate risk for adverse mental health outcomes in veterans.