Understanding the Influence of Social Support on Junior High School Students' Stress Perception: The Intermediary Role of Friendship Network

Objective: Research on the perceived social support, stress perception, and friendship networks among junior high school students. Method: A convenient cluster sampling method was adopted to select 484 junior high school students (grades 7- 9) from a middle school in Linxiang City, Hunan Province. The Perceived Social Support Scale (PSSS), the Lovers Social Network Scale (LSNS), and the Chinese Perceived Stress Scale (CPSS) were distributed to each class for data analysis. Result: (1) Junior high school students' perceived social support(t=30.53) and the friendship network (t=19.64) were higher than the average level (p<0.001); the stress perception (t=-50.14, p<0.001) was lower than the average level. (2) There are significant differences in perceived social support and stress perception among junior high school students by gender (p<0.05) and grade (p<0.01, p<0.001). There are significant differences in stress perception (p<0.01) and friendship network (p<0.05) among junior high school students depending on whether they were only children. (3) Perceived social support, friendship network, and stress perception were significantly correlated with each other (r=-0.36, -0.34, p<0.01). (4) The total effect value of perceived social support on stress perception among junior high school students was -0.17, and the mediating effect value through friendship network was -0.05, with a mediating effect proportion of 29.41%, and the mediating effect was significant (p<0.001). Conclusion: Perceived social support directly affects stress perception, and also indirectly affects stress perception through friendship networks. This is of great significance for future psychological intervention of stress perception among junior high school students.