Social Support and Subjective Well-Being: The Critical Role of Mediator

Abstract

Social support is essential for subjective well-being. Current evidence indicating that social support has powerful positive influences on our subjective well-being. It should be noted that mediators existing within the individual level, the relationship or family level, and the social level could exert a mediating effect on the correlation between social support and subjective well-being. This review summarizes research conducted in university student group and the elderly group, and identifies several mediators including parenting style, self-evaluation, personality, loneliness and self-concept. Determining potential mediators also helps to understand how they play a role in mediating the relationship between social support and individual's subjective well-being so that we can make more targeted and efficient intervention to help people improve their subjective well-being as well as their mental and physical health.