The Effect of Perceived Social Support on the Mental Health of Homosexuals: The Mediating Role of Self-Efficacy

Weigang Pan (), Yujie Zhao, Yihong Long, Ying Wang and Yingzhi Ma
Additional contact information
Weigang Pan: Laboratory of Emotion and Mental Health, Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences, Chongqing 402160, China
Yujie Zhao: Laboratory of Emotion and Mental Health, Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences, Chongqing 402160, China
Yihong Long: School of Public Administration, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510641, China
Ying Wang: Laboratory of Emotion and Mental Health, Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences, Chongqing 402160, China
Yingzhi Ma: Laboratory of Emotion and Mental Health, Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences, Chongqing 402160, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 23, 1-12

Abstract: Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the mental health of homosexual adults in China and to explore the effects of perceived social support and self-efficacy on mental health. Methods: Two hundred and nine homosexuals were recruited to participate in the online survey. The Perceived Social Support Scale, General Self-efficacy Scale, Self-rating Anxiety Scale and Self-rating Depression Scale were completed through a questionnaire website. Correlation analysis and mediation analysis were used to investigate the relationship between perceived social support, self-efficacy and mental health of homosexuals. Results: Description analysis showed the following: (1) In this study, 53.9% of the participants had depression symptoms and 46.7% had anxiety problems; (2) perceived social support, self-efficacy, anxiety and depression were significantly related to each other. The mediation effect analysis found that self-efficacy mediates between perceived social support and depression but does not mediate between perceived social support and anxiety. Conclusions: The results demonstrated that in the context of Chinese collectivist culture, homosexuals have certain mental health problems, and their perceived social support and self-efficacy are critical protective factors for mental health. Our findings highlight the need to further strengthen social support and self-efficacy in mental health services for Chinese homosexuals.

Keywords: homosexuals; perceived social support; self-efficacy; mental health; mediating effects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/23/15524/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/23/15524/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:23:p:15524-:d:981372

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().