Family matters: social support, parental stress, and psychological symptoms

Purpose Social support has been suggested to reduce psychological symptomatology, especially when facing stressful events. However, less is known about the underlying mechanisms through each social support from different sources may interact with parental stress in protecting parents’ symptomatology. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional study was conducted online using the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale, the Parental Stress Scale and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support with 108 Portuguese parents of children attending Grades 1–9. Using a path analysis approach, we explored a mediating model with perceived social support as a factor that could reduce stress, anxiety, and depression directly, and indirectly by lessening perceived parental stress. Findings Social support, particularly from family, was the only significant predictor of lower levels of stress and depression. Alternatively, social support from family had only an indirect effect on anxiety connected with parental stress, particularly in the areas of fear and anguish. Originality/value These findings provide a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between perceived social support, parental stress, and psychological symptomatology. They can also be used to develop relevant psychological intervention actions and to reinforce ways of strengthening social support—particularly from family—to make it continuously available to parents managing stressful situations.