The Role of Family Functioning and Sense of Coherence in the Relationship Between Social Support and Perceived Stress in Community-Dwelling Older Adults

This study examined how social support influences perceived stress in older adults, testing family functioning and sense of coherence (SOC) as serial mediators within a theoretically grounded model. Given the cross-sectional design, the analysis adopted an exploratory framework, conceptualizing SOC as a cognitive-emotional resource shaped by relational factors and instrumental in regulating individuals’ stress responses. Participants were 361 community-dwelling older adults in Brazil ( M = 67.32, SD = 5.77). Social support was assessed using the Social Support Questionnaire (SSQ), family functioning with the Family APGAR, SOC with the SOC-13, and perceived stress with the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10). A serial multiple mediation model was tested using regression-based analysis. Social support did not exert a significant direct effect on perceived stress ( b = −0.079, p > .05); instead, it was associated with higher family functioning ( b = 0.136, p < .05), which in turn associated with greater SOC ( b = 1.61, p < .05). Both family functioning ( b = −0.571, p < .0001) and SOC ( b = −0.294, p < .0001) were significant negative predictors of perceived stress, and the total indirect effect of social support through both mediators was significant ( b = −0.065, p < .05). These findings suggest that social support is linked to lower perceived stress primarily through indirect pathways involving family functioning and SOC, rather than through a direct pathway. SOC, in particular, appears to play a central role in how older adults assign meaning to social and familial resources when managing stress.