Longitudinal change and association between four types of social support and mental health among low-income U.S. veterans

Jack Tsai, Hongyin Lai and Vahed Maroufy

International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 2025, vol. 71, issue 3, 612-616

Abstract: Aims: This study sought to examine how perceived social support changes over time for U.S. veterans and how social support relates to their mental health longitudinally. Methods: Data from a nationally representative sample of 783 low-income U.S. veterans in 2021-2023 were analyzed to examine changes and correlates of four different types of social support (Emotional/Informational Support, Tangible Support, Affectionate Support and Positive Social Interaction) over 1 year. Weighted logistic mixed models were conducted. Results: The majority of veterans reported no change in their level of perceived social support, but about 18%–26% reported either an increase or decrease (about evenly split about increase/decrease) in their perceived level of one of the four types of social support. High levels of the four types of social support were associated with being married and a lower likelihood of screening positive for depression. Other differential associations were found between sociodemographic characteristics and some types of social support. Conclusion: These findings confirm the value of assessing perceived social support among veterans with low socioeconomic status who may have mental health issues.

Keywords: Mental health; social support; veterans; longitudinal study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00207640241299321 (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:sae:socpsy:v:71:y:2025:i:3:p:612-616

DOI: 10.1177/00207640241299321

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in International Journal of Social Psychiatry
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().