Is social support beneficial after a breakup? A moderation model of social support, depression, emotional volatility and gender for college students during COVID-19

Abstract

The current study focused on those who had recently experienced a relationship breakup, which add extra stressors to college students who have already suffered from negative influences of COVID-19. Social support could act as a coping resource to alleviate the negative consequences of breakup and COVID-19 on mental health. Although social support has long been found to have a protective role on mental health, several studies indicated that social support could have differential effects, and even harmful effects on people with high negative emotionality. To understand the roles social support play, we used a longitudinal design to study potential moderators (negative emotionality [or neuroticism] and gender) in the relationship between social support and depression. For students who experienced a relational disruption, our research questions were (1) what are the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between social support and depression before and during COVID-19, and (2) are these relationships moderated by negative emotionality and gender? Participants 361 students (Mage = 23.3, 64% female) from Argentina and the USA who had experienced recent relationship breakups. Participants completed pre-pandemic questionnaires, and were followed up on depression level six months later, after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results indicated that social support and negative emotionality were significantly related to concurrent depression. Pre-pandemic social support showed a weak correlation with depression levels during COVID-19. Negative emotionality and gender were not significant moderators in both the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations. Results supported the concurrent effects of social support on depression and indicated the potential value of targeting social support during COVID-19. The study also offered several directions for future research.