Social Support and Strain from Different Relationship Sources: Their Additive and Buffering Effects on Psychological Well-Being in Adulthood

Abstract

The present study examined the main and interactive effects of relationship-specific (i.e., spouses, friends, parents, and children) social support and strain on positive (happiness and well-being) and negative (loneliness and depressive symptoms) psychological well-being, and whether the associations varied by age and gender. A dataset was collected from 1033 adults (20–69 years; 50.1% female) from South Korea regarding social support and strain and indicators of psychological well-being. Results revealed that spousal and friend support was associated with enhanced happiness and well-being and reduced loneliness, whereas spousal and friend strain was associated with heightened depressive symptoms. Relationship-specific social support and strain showed interactive effects. Social support from parents and spouses buffered the adverse effects of social strain on psychological well-being, but their protective effects diminished when they experienced high levels of parental or spousal strain. These patterns were dependent on age and gender, with protective effects of friend support being greater for younger adults and women than for older adults and men.

Keywords

Social support and strain psychological well-being relationship source adulthood

Social relationships are recognized as a critical element of psychological well-being and acknowledged as having significant and accumulative effects on health across the adult life span (Antonucci et al., 2014). Empirical research over the past decades has documented the beneficial effects of positive social exchanges on individuals’ improved psychological well-being and enhanced health benefits (Antonucci et al., 2009; Holt-Lunstad et al., 2010; Saphire-Bernstein & Taylor, 2013). Close and supportive relationships have been positively associated with better health, lower mortality, and greater life satisfaction (Berkman & Syme, 1979; Cohen, 2004; Walen & Lachman, 2000), whereas social strain has been linked to psychological and health related costs such as loneliness, depressive symptoms, emotional distress, and health problems (Chen & Feeley, 2014; Lerman Ginzburg et al., 2021; Sherman et al., 2011; Yang et al., 2014).

Benefits of social support and costs of social strain are assumed to have pervasive influence over the life course. However, how individuals experience social support and strain can be dependent on relationship sources such as spouses, family, and friends (Birditt & Antonucci, 2007; Secor et al., 2017), and the potential impact of different relationship partners such as spouses and parents could be contextualized by the presence or absence of support or strain from other relationships such as children and friends (Pierce & Quiroz, 2019). In addition, the relative salience of different relationships could differ by gender (Antonucci et al., 2001; Lee & Goldstein, 2016) and change over time due to life events and social circumstances as individuals make a transition across life stages (Carstensen, 1991; Fiori et al., 2006).

The goal of this research was to examine the main and interactive effects of social support and strain that individuals experience with different relationship partners (spouses, friends, parents, and children) on their psychological well-being. This study accordingly assessed such positive and negative aspects of social relationships in a sample of South Korean adults and investigated their associations with different dimensions of psychological well-being (happiness, well-being, loneliness, and depressive symptoms). Another goal of this study was to probe if these associations varied by age and gender. Considering differentiated social relationships and their joint effects could help us elucidate the potential additive or buffering effects of positive and negative social exchanges. Also, investigating with varying age groups of men and women could provide an opportunity to explore similarities and differences in the associations of relationship-specific social support and strain and psychological well-being across the adult life span.

Additionally, with a large sample of South Korean adults, the current study could demonstrate if the associations between relationship-specific support and strain and psychological well-being found in prior studies could be generalizable to other countries. Although, there are a few studies that examined the effects of social support on psychological health among Japanese older adults (Okabayashi et al., 2004; Sugisawa et al., 2002), most of existing studies on joint effects of social support and strain is based on the dataset derived from the United States and Western countries.

The main effect and stress-buffering effect models of social support and strain

Since Berkman and Syme (1979) first demonstrated that social support from relationship partners significantly predict lower mortality, scholars in different disciplines have drawn attention to the mechanisms through which social support is related to psychological well-being and health. Social support can have generalized beneficial effects because social relationships provide individuals with regular social interactions and stable social roles (Cassel, 1976; Thoits, 1983). The main effect model suggests that regular social exchanges with diverse socializing agents can provide individuals positive affect, material resources, a sense of stability and predictability in life, and a recognition of self-worth, all of which can be positively associated with overall psychological well-being (Cohen et al., 2000; Ensel & Lin, 1991). Supportive relationships could also help individuals to avoid negative experiences such as economic or life difficulties that otherwise could affect individuals’ psychological or physical health, and make individuals to feel more connected and integrated into the society (e.g., family, friends, and community; Baumeister & Leary, 1995; Cassel, 1976; Cohen & Syme, 1985). Considerable empirical evidence supports this main effect model. Multiple studies have consistently shown that greater social support can alleviate loneliness and depressive symptoms (Chen & Feeley, 2014; Kuwert et al., 2014) and promote happiness and well-being (Chopik, 2017; Secor et al., 2017). Although the relationship between social support and psychological well-being is reciprocal in nature, increasing number of longitudinal studies have indicated that social support predicts enhanced well-being and health benefits (Pierce & Quiroz, 2019; Seeman et al., 1995).

However, close relationships that provide reassurance and comfort can also be the source of tension and conflict. Researchers have only recently begun to investigate the negative aspects of social relationships such as social strain, which refers to social actions by relationship partners that cause individuals to experience psychological distresses (such as resentment and sadness) and some reservations about social relationship itself (Rook, 1992). Some of this research has shown that, although social strain is relatively less frequent compared to social support, its impact can be more detrimental (Rook, 1997; Schuster et al., 1990). Other research has also demonstrated that both social support and strain can be present simultaneously within a specific relationship and can exert comparable influence on positive and negative aspects of well-being within their respective domain (Ingersoll-Dayton et al., 1997). That is, social support has stronger effects on positive aspects of well-being such as life satisfaction and positive emotions (Pierce & Quiroz, 2019; Walen & Lachman, 2000), and social strain is more strongly associated with negative aspects of well-being such as emotional distress, loneliness, and depressive symptoms (Chen & Feeley, 2014; Lerman Ginzburg et al., 2021; Sherman et al., 2011).

Researchers have also called for a need to consider not only the main effects of social support and strain, but also how they may interact. The stress-buffering effect model suggests that social support can attenuate the adverse effects of stress (i.e., social strain) on psychological well-being (Davis et al., 1998; Lepore, 1992). Supportive communication can help individuals to work through their emotional reactions to social conflict and tension and to re-evaluate the significance of the problems, so that individuals can be less responsive to social strain (Albrecht et al., 1994; Burleson & Goldsmith, 1996). However, research probing such buffering effects has shown inconsistent results, with three patterns emerging in the literature. First, some studies (especially when they differentiated relationship sources) have reported that social support mitigated the adverse effects of social strain on well-being and health (Lepore, 1992; Walen & Lachman, 2000). For example, social support from children was found to cushion the detrimental effects of spousal strain, and social support from friends provided benefits when older adults experienced social conflicts with their children (Okun & Keith, 1998). Second, other studies have shown that social strain lessened the positive effects of social support on psychological well-being. For example, when husbands and wives experienced both social support and strain simultaneously, the presence of conflict and tension interfered with the positive influence of spousal support on affective states (DeLongis et al., 2004). Perceived social strain and conflict can create shifts in the evaluation of relationship partner’s subsequent behaviors, so that partner’s behaviors are interpreted in the context of distrust. Therefore, the beneficial effects of social support could be dampened when individuals also experienced conflict and tension. Third, evidence for a reverse buffering effect, in which the negative effects of social strain was heightened as individuals perceived their social relationships as more supportive, has also been reported (Pagel et al., 1987). For example, when individuals experienced high levels of conflict and tension, social support did not influence their depressive symptoms. In contrast, when individuals experienced low levels of social strain, as individuals experienced more social support (as social support increases), social strain from relationship partners was more predictive of their depressive symptoms (Okun & Keith, 1998). The results supporting for a reverse buffering effect underscore that negative aspects of social relationships could be more salient when experienced against a backdrop of positive relationships. Thus, when individuals frequently experience social support from certain or multiple relationship partners, social strain could have particularly potent effects because it is unusual (Rook, 1990).

Research considering interactive effects has mostly focused on general social support or has considered within one relationship type (e.g., if spousal support could buffer the adverse effects of spousal strain; DeLongis et al., 2004; Holt-Lunstad et al., 2008; Ioannou et al., 2019), with less attention to different sources of support or cross-relationship effects (e.g., if spousal support could offset the negative effects of child strain). However, as findings from Okun and Keith (1998) demonstrated, significant buffering effects are often found when different relationship sources are involved. Lepore (1992) underscored that when social strain arises in one sector of social relationships, the most beneficial support is likely to derive from other sectors of social relationships. In the face of social strain, individuals usually turn to others for a sympathetic ear, helpful advice, and pleasant experiences. Given general and specific support (i.e., from a specific relationship source) are distinct (Pierce & Quiroz, 2019), the buffering effects of social support on well-being could be elucidated when general level of support or strain is disaggregated and social support or strain from different relationship sources are simultaneously considered.

Relationship-specific social support and strain across the adult life span

Social support and strain from different relationships can have influence on well-being in different ways across the adult life span. The life course perspective underscores that meaning and value of particular social relationship could vary across different stages in life (Umberson et al., 2010). The convoy model also suggests that salient focal relationships change over time as individuals make a transition across life stages (Kahn & Antonucci, 1980) because personal and situational factors shape their relationships differently (Fiori et al., 2006). Accordingly, social support from different relationships is differentially valued and varies in its impact on psychological well-being over the course of life (socioemotional selectivity theory; Carstensen, 1995). For example, in young adulthood, friends are the major source of support, with friend support being more strongly related to psychological adjustment than family support (Allen et al., 2000). As individuals transition into adulthood, romantic relationships and partner support become more critical (Qualter et al., 2015). When they progress through old age, social support from family becomes more important (Chen & Feeley, 2014; Okabayashi et al., 2004).

Life-span theorists suggest that older adults reap more benefits from spousal and family support than younger adults do because older adults perceive less amount of time left to live and thus focus on those who are the most significant to them (e.g., Carstensen, 1993; 1998). Therefore, support from one’s spouse and close family members becomes more critically related to their psychological well-being (Segrin, 2003). In addition, older adults naturally experience diminishing social networks because of retirement, relocation, or death. Thus, older adults are more likely to compensate for shrinking social networks by altering their desires for social support, which could be more easily satisfied (Baltes & Baltes, 1990; Rook, 2000). By doing so, older adults preserve their enhanced well-being despite diminishing social networks that could otherwise negatively affect their psychological well-being.

However, findings about these associations are inconsistent. Previous studies have also demonstrated that social support from family remains critical in young adults’ adjustment (Mounts et al., 2006), with social support from spouses being more strongly predictive of psychological well-being for younger adults than older adults (Okun & Keith, 1998; Walen & Lachman, 2000). Other studies have also indicated that social support from friends was more robustly related to older adults’ well-being than that from family (Huxhold et al., 2014). Although young adults spend the most time with their friends, social support from family could still retain the relative significance (Lee & Goldstein, 2016). Friend support could also play a salient role in psychological well-being in late life because older adults generally confide in friends as their preferred source of support related to the aging process. In addition, familial support naturally declines over time due to death of family members (Gupta & Korte, 1994). Given these mixed evidence, research examining social support and its impact on psychological well-being across the adult life span should consider different age-dependent effects of relationship-specific support and strain.

Gender differences

Research has shown gender differences in the structure (e.g., size, contact frequency) and quality pertaining to social relationships. Women tend to have larger and more multifaceted social networks (Haines & Hurlbert, 1992) and more friends but about the same number of family members than men (Antonucci, 1994). Empirical evidence has also indicated that the nature and the influence of social relationships differ by gender, such that women draw more satisfaction by large social networks, and women are more intensely and negatively affected by network events than men (Antonucci et al., 1998; Schuster et al., 1990). However, studies have also found no significant gender differences in the influence of different social relationships on psychological well-being (Chopik, 2017; Stoliker & Lafreniere, 2015).

Gender differences in the effects of social support and strain could depend on the relationship source. For example, high levels of spousal support could have stronger effects on men than on women (Schuster et al., 1990), whereas lower levels of friend support could have more adverse psychological effects on women than on men (Lee & Goldstein, 2016). Because only a handful of studies have examined such gender moderation effects, little is known about whether associations of psychological well-being with relationship-specific support and strain vary by gender. Research to investigate such potential gender differences is warranted, as prior research has suggested that women devote more time and energy to developing close social relationships and that women perceive higher levels of support than men during adulthood in general (Adamczyk & Segrin, 2015). Although women may benefit more from supportive relationships with their friends and family than men, they could also suffer more from social strain or a lack of support (Gore & Colten, 1991; Sifers, 2011). Thus, lower levels of friend support or higher levels of family strain, for example, could lead to increased loneliness or depressive symptoms more in women than in men. In the current study, we examined such potential gender differences in the associations of psychological well-being with relationship-specific support and strain.

The present study

Given relevant evidence from non-Western populations is sparse and there are some differences in the social norms between Western and non-Western societies, this study could provide a unique information to the literature. Using a large dataset of South Korean men and women with varying ages, the aim of this study was to elucidate the role of relationship-specific social support and strain in positive and negative aspects of psychological well-being. To enrich understanding on the relative impact of source-specific support and strain on psychological well-being, four sources of social support and strain were considered: spouses, friends, parents, and children. To better understand the potential additive or buffering effects of positive and negative social exchanges, we examined the main and interactive effects of social support and strain from different relationship sources. In addition, we examined the potential moderating effects of age and gender on the associations of psychological well-being with relationship-specific support and strain.

Based on the theories and empirical evidence, we formulated five hypotheses. First, we hypothesized that social support and strain from spouses, friends, parents, and children would have differential main effects on psychological well-being, with spousal and friend support and strain being most strongly associated with positive and negative aspects of psychological well-being (Birditt & Antonucci, 2007). Second, we hypothesized that contributions of social support and strain from different social relationships could be additive, with support or strain from each relationship partner providing unique and crucial supports for psychological well-being (e.g., friend support would have positive effects on well-being over and above the effects of spousal support). Third, we hypothesized that social support and strain would have cross-relationship interaction effects on psychological well-being (e.g., friend support would buffer the adverse effects of spousal strain on well-being; child strain would interfere with the beneficial effects of spousal support on well-being; Lepore, 1992; Okun & Keith, 1998). The fourth and fifth hypotheses pertain to age and gender differences. We hypothesized that the beneficial effects of social support and the adverse effects of social strain from friends on psychological well-being would be stronger for younger adults and women than for older adults and men (Antonucci et al., 1998; Schuster et al., 1990) and that the beneficial effects of spousal and familial support on psychological well-being would be stronger for older adults and men than for younger adults and women (Carstensen, 1998; Schuster et al., 1990; Segrin, 2003).

Methods

Participants

After receiving an approval from the university’s Institutional Review Board, we recruited participants from an online research participant system, which has a nationally representative sample of South Koreans aged 14 and over. We used proportional allocation to represent different age groups of women and men in adulthood. We invited the pool of participants to take an online survey by posting a link on the message board for about 1 week. Information describing the research was presented to participants prior to starting the survey. Informed consent was obtained from each participant before their participation in this study. They were told that completing the survey was voluntary and that the collected information would be kept confidential. Participants completed a survey that took about 30 minutes and they were given gift certificates of $10 upon completion. The sample comprised 1033 adults (50.1% female, 100% South Korean) aged between 20 and 69 years (M = 44.05 years, Median = 44 years, SD = 13.71) who resided in South Korea in the year of 2021. Each decade of adult life span was well represented (i.e., 20–29 years, n = 210; 30–39 years, n = 203; 40–49 years, n = 204; 50–59 years, n = 209; 60–69 years, n = 207) and the number of participants by geographical region (i.e., 5–7% for 17 different districts) was also well represented. Less than one-quarter (24%) of the sample had less than a high school diploma. The majority (66%) of the sample had a college degree and 9% had a higher than college degree. About one-quarter (28%) of the participants reported an annual household income of less than $20,000 and 38% reported an annual household income of more than $40,000. About three-quarters (70%) of the sample were married or partnered. About half (56%) of the sample had children. Detailed information is presented in the Appendix.

Measures

Social support and strain

Relationship-specific social support and strain were measured with the multidimensional scale of social support and strain (Smith et al., 2013), which consists of 12 items assessing social support and 16 items assessing social strain for the four relationship sources: spouses, friends, parents, and children (three items of support and four items of strain per each relationship source). Smith et al. (2013) reported the Cronbach’s αs to be .82, .84, .86, and .83 for social support, and .79, .77, .81, and .78 for social strain regarding subscales of spouses, friends, parents, and children, respectively. Construct validity of the scale has been established through associations with chronic illness and well-being. Participants responded to each statement using a 5-point scale (1 = not at all true to 5 = very true). Sample items included, “How much do they really understand the way you feel about things?” for measuring social support and ‘‘How much do they let you down when you are counting on them?” for measuring social strain. The mean score of each subscale for social support and strain was calculated, with higher scores indicating higher levels of support and strain. Cronbach’s αs for the present study were .86, .84, .83, and .82 for social support and .83, .87, .88, and .85 for social strain regarding subscales of spouses, friends, parents, and children, respectively.

Happiness

Happiness was assessed with the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ) developed by Hills and Argyle (2002). It is a 29-item measure to assess levels of happiness indicated by positive mood. Hills and Argyle (2002) reported a Cronbach’s α of .91. Construct validity of the scale has been established through associations with self-esteem and life satisfaction. Participants rated to what extent they felt the way explained in each statement using a 5-point scale (1 = not at all true to 5 = very true). Sample statements included “I often experience joy and elation” and “I feel I have a great deal of energy.” The mean score was calculated, with higher scores indicating higher levels of happiness. Cronbach’s α for the present study was .92.

Well-Being

Well-being was assessed with the shortened version of Psychological Well-being Scale (PWBS) developed by Ryff (1989). This scale is a 54-item measure comprising six sections designed to assess levels of autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relations with others, purpose in life, and self-acceptance. Prior research (e.g., Van Dierendonck, 2004) has established its good internal consistency (α = .76) and construct validity. Participants responded using a 5-point scale (1 = not at all true to 5 = very true). Sample items included, “In general, I feel I am in charge of the situation in which I live” and ‘‘I have a sense of direction and purpose in life.” The mean score of each subscale was calculated, with higher scores indicating higher levels of well-being. Cronbach’s α for the present study was .92.

Loneliness

Loneliness was assessed with the UCLA Loneliness Scale (Russell et al., 1980), which has been established to have good internal consistency (α = .94) and construct validity in prior research (e.g., Segrin & Domschke, 2011). Participants rated to what extent they felt the way explained in each of the 20 statements using a 5-point scale (1 = not at all true to 5 = very true). Sample statements included “I feel isolated from others” and “I feel left out.” The mean score was calculated, with higher scores indicating higher levels of loneliness. Cronbach’s α for the present study was .94.

Depressive symptoms

Depressive symptoms was assessed with the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D) Scale (Radloff, 1977), a 20-item measure for assessing depressed mood in non-clinical sample of various ages. Radloff (1977) reported Cronbach’s α of .85. Construct validity of the scale has been established through the associations with social functioning and adjustment. Participants rated how often during the past week they had experienced symptoms explained in statements. Sample statements included “I talked less than usual” and “I felt I could not shake off the blues.” Each Item was scored from 0 (rarely) to 3 (most or the time), with higher scores indicating higher levels of depressive symptoms. Scores ranged from 0 to 57. Cronbach’s α was .94 for the present study.

Analytic strategy

We examined both the main and interactive effects of relationship-specific social support and strain with positive and negative psychological well-being by running a series of hierarchical multiple regressions. In the first step, the eight relationship-specific social support and strain were included as focal predictor variables. In the second step, participants’ age, age², gender, education, income, and marital status were included as control variables. Age² was included in the model to capture the curvilinear pattern of psychological well-being across the adult lifespan according to prior studies (e.g., Baird et al., 2010; Chopik, 2017). The third step included all two-way interaction terms related to social support and strain (e.g., spouse support X parent strain) and with gender and age (e.g., friend support X age, child support X gender). To reduce problems associated with multicollinearity, all continuous variables were centered by subtracting their means (Frazier et al., 2004). As outlined by Aiken and West (1991), significance of interactions was determined if the R² increased by a significant amount and if the standardized estimate for the interaction term was significant. Only significant interaction terms were retained in the final models. To test and interpret interactions, predicted values were calculated using unstandardized regression coefficients, and simple slope tests were conducted. Figures were created using predicted values of dependent variables with moderator scores one standard deviation above and below the mean (see Figures 1 –4).

Figure 1.

Significant interactive effects of support and strain on psychological well-being.

Figure 2.

Significant interactive effects of support and age on psychological well-being.

Figure 3.

Significant interactive effects of support and strain with Age² on psychological well-being.

Figure 4.

Significant interactive effects of support and gender on psychological well-being.

Results

Descriptive statistics

Bivariate correlations, means and standard deviations for relationship-specific support and strain, and four indicators of psychological well-being are presented in Table 1. For the most part, an expected pattern of correlations was found among variables. Social support and strain from four relationship sources were positively associated (r = .24–.42, r = .38–.58, for social support and strain, respectively). Social support from the four different relationships was positively associated with happiness and well-being (r = .18–.30), but negatively associated with loneliness and depressive symptoms (r = −.09–−.43). In contrast, social strain from four different relationships were negatively associated with happiness and well-being (r = −.09–−.25), but positively associated with loneliness and depressive symptoms (r = .22–.34).

Table 1.

Bivariate Correlations and Descriptive Statistics for All Research Variables.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
1. Spouse support	—
2. Friend support	.24**	—
3. Parent support	.33**	.42**	—
4. Child support	.31**	.35**	.40**	—
5. Spouse strain	−.37**	.12**	.02	.11*	—
6. Friend strain	.05	.15**	.11**	.20**	.45**	—
7. Parent strain	.01	.08**	−.11**	.18**	.38**	.57**	—
8. Child strain	−.01	.13**	.11**	.07	.46**	.58**	.56**	—
9. Happiness	.30**	.25**	.27**	.25**	−.15**	−.09**	−.21**	−.18**	—
10. Well-being	.24**	.20**	.18**	.18**	−.20**	−.19**	−.25**	−.19**	.84**	—
11. Loneliness	−.31**	−.43**	−.30**	−.24**	.25**	.22**	.27**	.26**	−.71**	−.72**	—
12. Depressive symptoms	−.30**	−.09**	−.17**	−.11**	.34**	.24**	.34**	.27**	−.70**	−.70**	.64**	—
M	3.56	3.15	3.02	2.85	2.36	1.82	1.91	1.99	3.20	3.28	2.51	16.37
SD	.95	.86	1.02	.93	.92	.85	.96	.87	.56	.52	.74	10.90

Note. N = 1033, *p < .05, **p < .01.

Age and gender differences in all constructs were examined (see Tables in the Appendix). In general, younger adults reported higher levels of social support, social strain, and depressive symptoms than older adults, whereas older adults reported higher levels of well-being than younger adults. Men reported higher levels of social support from spouses (t = 2.06, p < .05) and parents (t = 4.33, p < .001) but lower levels of social support from children than women (t = −4.59, p < .001), whereas women reported lower levels of social strain from friends than men (t = 5.39, p < .001). Men also reported higher levels of happiness than women (t = 2.11, p < .05), whereas women reported higher levels of depressive symptoms than men (t = −2.66, p < .01).

Main and interactive effects of social support and strain on psychological well-being

We used both the entire sample and subsamples (i.e., those who reported that they were married or partnered) to run a series of hierarchical multiple regressions, and compared the differences in pattern of results. All results remained the same, thus, we reported results based on the entire sample. Of several demographic variables, only education level was significantly associated with psychological well-being. Having more education was associated with higher happiness and better well-being. Results of the final models are summarized in Tables 2 and 3.

Table 2.

Regression Coefficients for Predicting Happiness and Well-Being.

	Happiness			Well-being
	b	SE	β	b	SE	β
Age	.01	.01	.02	.01	.01	.06
Age²	.01	.01	.06	.01	.01	.03
Female^a	−.06	.05	−.05	−.02	.04	−.03
Education	.11	.04	.12***	.09	.04	.11**
Income	.02	.01	.07†	.01	.01	.04
Marital status	−.10	.19	−.02	−.24	.18	−.05
Spouse support	.08	.03	.15***	.07	.02	.14**
Friend support	.11	.03	.17***	.14	.03	.25***
Parent support	.04	.02	.08	.01	.02	.01
Child support	.10	.03	.17***	.01	.03	.01
Spouse strain	.01	.03	.00	−.03	.03	−.05
Friend strain	−.05	.03	−.08	−.08	.03	−.14**
Parent strain	−.03	.03	−.06	−.02	.03	−.03
Child strain	−.08	.03	−.14**	−.05	.03	−.09
Parent support X spouse strain	−.05	.02	−.10**	−.05	.02	−.11**
Friend support X age	—	—	—	.01	.01	−.11*
Child support X gender	—	—	—	.12	.04	.17***
R ²	.23			.21
F	10.23***			8.01***

Note. b = unstandardized regression coefficient, β = standardized regression coefficient; When interaction terms were added to the models, they explained 1%, 3.2% additional variance (all significant at p < .05) for happiness and well-being, respectively;

^aFemale is coded 0 = male and 1 = female.

†p < .10, *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001.

Table 3.

Regression Coefficients for Predicting Loneliness and Depressive Symptoms.

	Loneliness			Depressive symptoms
	b	SE	β	b	SE	β
Age	.01	.01	−.02	−.11	.07	−.11†
Age²	.01	.01	.02	.01	.01	−.04
Female^a	.01	.06	.01	.72	.88	.04
Education	−.02	.04	−.02	−1.15	.71	−.06
Income	−.01	.02	−.03	−.41	.25	−.07†
Marital status	.10	.22	.02	.17	3.60	.00
Spouse support	−.09	.03	−.13***	−.80	.72	−.08
Friend support	−.30	.05	−.37***	−1.27	.53	−.10*
Parent support	−.05	.03	−.07	−1.08	.61	−.11†
Child support	.01	.04	.00	−.98	.54	−.09†
Spouse strain	.05	.03	.07	1.81	.55	.17***
Friend strain	.13	.04	.16***	1.97	.66	.17***
Parent strain	.04	.03	.05	1.10	.55	.10*
Child strain	.14	.04	.18***	1.31	.71	.12†
Spouse support X parent strain	.06	.02	.09**	—	—	—
Parent support X spouse strain	—	—	—	.04	.02	.09*
Friend support X age	.01	.01	.11*	—	—	—
Parent support X age	—	—	—	.01	.01	.12*
Child support X age²	.01	.01	−.12*	—	—	—
Child strain X age²	—	—	—	.01	.01	−.11*
Spouse support X gender	—	—	—	−.10	.04	−.14*
Friend support X gender	−.18	.06	−.15***	—	—	—
R ²	.39			.28
F	5.20***			10.89***

Note. b = unstandardized regression coefficient, β = standardized regression coefficient; When interaction terms were added to the models, they explained 3.2%, 2.8% additional variance (all significant at p < .05) for loneliness and depressive symptoms, respectively.

^aFemale is coded 0 = male and 1 = female.

†p < .10, *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001.

Main effects

Social support from spouses and friends was most strongly associated with enhanced happiness and well-being, and reduced loneliness. In contrast, child strain was associated with reduced happiness and increased loneliness, and friend strain was associated with reduced well-being. Among different sources of social support, only friend support was significant in alleviating depressive symptoms. Also, although social strain from all sources (although marginal for child strain) was positively associated with increased depressive symptoms, spousal and friend strain was most robustly associated with heightened depressive symptoms. In general, social support had stronger effects on positive aspects of psychological well-being such as happiness and well-being, whereas social strain was more strongly associated with negative aspects of psychological well-being such as depressive symptoms. As we hypothesized, friend support had strong positive effects on happiness and well-being over and above the effects of spousal support, and spousal strain had strong positive effects on depressive symptoms over and above the effects of friend strain. This indicates that contributions of social support and strain from multiple social relationships are additive, and each relationship partner provides unique support or strain for individual’s psychological well-being. Thus, our first and second hypotheses were supported.

Interactive effects

Among different cross-relationship interaction effects, evidence for buffering effects was found only for the interaction effects involving parents and spouses (i.e., parental support X spousal strain, spousal support X parent strain). Specifically, we found that the positive association between parental support and happiness was lessened when individuals experienced high spousal strain (Figure 1(a)), and the positive association between parental support and well-being was present only when spousal strain had lower levels (Figure 1(b)). In addition, the negative association between spousal support and loneliness was mitigated by high levels of parental strain (Figure 1(c)), and the negative association between parental support and depressive symptoms was present only when spousal strain had lower levels (Figure 1(d)). Collectively, our findings indicate that social support from parents and spouses alleviates the adverse effects of social strain on psychological well-being, but their protective effects diminished when they experienced high levels of parental or spousal strain. Thus, although evidence for buffering effects was limited to parents and spouses, our third hypothesis on cross-relationship interaction effects on psychological well-being was supported.

Age and gender differences

As anticipated, the relationship between social support and psychological well-being was dependent on age and gender. Regarding the role of friends, although the beneficial effects of friend support on well-being and loneliness were significant for both men and women of all age groups, the magnitude of the association was greater for younger adults and women than for older adults and men (Figure 2(a)-2(c); Figure 4(b)). Regarding the role of children, the protective effect of child support on loneliness was greater for older adults than for younger adults (Figure 3(a)), whereas the negative impact of child strain on depressive symptoms was diminished more for older adults than for younger adults (Figure 3(b)). Also, only women showed the predicted pattern of child support being associated with increased well-being (Figure 4(a)). Regarding the role of spouses, the protective effects of spousal support on depressive symptoms was greater for women than for men (Figures 4(c)). Thus, although we found significant age and gender differences, our fourth and fifth hypotheses were only partly supported.

Discussion

The present study extends research to the role of social support and strain in psychological well-being by considering different relationship sources (spouses, friends, parents, and children) and two theoretical models (the main effect model and the stress-buffering effect model). Our focus was on the relative salience of relationship-specific support and strain and their joint effects (the additive and buffering effects) on psychological well-being. We also investigated how patterns of the associations varied by age and gender. These issues were examined in a large South Korean sample of various age groups (between 20 and 69 years) and for diverse indicators of positive and negative psychological well-being.

Social support and strain from different relationship sources and psychological well-being

As we hypothesized, social support from spouses and friends was strongly and consistently associated with enhanced happiness and well-being and reduced loneliness, and social strain from spouses and friends was most strongly associated with heightened depressive symptoms. In addition, friend support emerged as the most salient and particularly beneficial factor in alleviating depressive symptoms. Although social support and strain from parents and children were also associated with different levels of positive and negative aspects of psychological well-being, the relative potency of their effects was weaker than those from spouses and friends. This finding is in line with existing empirical evidence that accentuates the importance of spouses and friends as critical sources of support for individual’s well-being (Birditt & Antonucci, 2007; Chen & Feeley, 2014; Fiori et al., 2006). It is noteworthy that the current results provide additional empirical validation for the significant influence of spouses and friends in fostering happiness and well-being and lessening depressive symptoms based on South Korean adults.

Many prior studies often aggregated social support from each of these relationships into a general measure of social support or examined them in isolation of each other (Dupertuis et al., 2001). Thus, it was not possible to investigate all of these relationships simultaneously to compare the relative salience of different sources of relationships or to test if one relationship provides unique and crucial support for well-being over and above benefits of the other relationships (Giles et al., 2005). Our study demonstrated that social support and strain from spouses, friends, parents, and children had differential effects on psychological well-being, underscoring the value and importance of considering different sources of relationships. Also, the fact that social support exerted stronger effects on positive aspects of psychological well-being such as happiness and well-being, and social strain was more strongly associated with negative aspects of psychological well-being such as depressive symptoms points to the importance of examining both positive and negative social exchanges (Ingersoll-Dayton et al., 1997). Taken together, our findings echo previous research emphasizing the need to distinguish between social support and strain provided by different social relationships.

Additive and interactive effects of social support and strain

We found evidence for additive effects of relationship-specific social support and strain. Results for testing all four sources of social support and strain simultaneously indicated that social support and strain from different relational partners could exert additive influence on psychological well-being. Social support from spouses and friends was additionally associated with happiness and well-being. Friend support had protective effects on loneliness over and above those of spousal support. Furthermore, each social strain from spouses, friends, and parents independently and additionally contributed to individuals’ depressive symptoms. These findings conform to the view that each social relationship can function as relational supports or stressors (Saphire-Bernstein & Taylor, 2013), suggesting that the benefits or costs conferred by different relationships are cumulative (Luthar et al., 2000). Taken together with other research examining the main effects of different social relationships (Secor et al., 2017; Walen & Lachman, 2000), our findings underscore that social support or strain from different relationship sources can accrue their effects and that each social partner can play a crucial role in psychological well-being. Thus, as individuals experience more support from multiple relationship partners, they could accumulate benefits over time, resulting in greater psychological well-being (Pierce & Quiroz, 2019), whereas having frequent conflicts with different social partners could amplify negative effects of such social strain, leading to heightened psychological and health problems (Yang et al., 2014).

Our findings also indicate that social support and strain from different relationship sources have interactive effects on psychological well-being. Findings showed that parental support had positive effects on happiness and well-being. However, such beneficial effects were lessened when individuals experienced high levels of spousal strain. Also, although parental support had protective effect on depressive symptoms, such protective effect was diminished with high levels of spousal strain. Similarly, although spousal support had buffering effect on loneliness, such buffering effect was mitigated by high levels of parental strain. These findings are consistent with previous evidence regarding the stress-buffering effect model (Davis et al., 1998; Lepore, 1992; Okun & Keith, 1998), providing support for our hypothesis that social support in one relationship could attenuate the adverse effects of social strain emanated from the other relationships, and the presence of social strain in one relationship could interfere with the beneficial effects of social support received from the other relationships on well-being.

Additionally, our findings highlight that these cross-relationship interaction effects can vary by the particular relationship source. Specifically, it is noteworthy that evidence for buffering effects was found only between parents and spouses in the present study, which was not significantly addressed in prior studies with American or Western European samples. It could be that social dynamics between parents and spouses and their predictive roles in psychological well-being differ between Western and Asian countries. In South Korea and many other Asian countries, filial piety (i.e., respect and obligation toward parents) is considered as central social norms. Filial piety entails several dimensions, including gratitude toward parents for their care, an obligation to respect and obey parents’ opinions, the duty to provide for aging parents’ needs, and behaviors that bring honor to the family (Yeh & Bedford, 2003). Thus, the parent–child relationship continues to be interdependent throughout the life course even after a child’s marriage. For example, Asian couples are less likely to endorse the notion that there is a boundary between the couple and their parents than European American couples (Epstein et al., 2005) and are more likely to rely on their parents as their primary sources of emotional support than European Americans (Goodwin, 1999). Thus, Asian adults’ close relationships with their parents and their life-long obligation to respect and care for their parents are likely to affect the nature of the parent-spouse relationship and influence personal psychological well-being. We are not aware of any studies that considered social obligations of filial piety as unique predictors of individuals’ interrelated social relationships and psychological health. Such studies will not only elucidate the complex pathways by which spousal relationships influence well-being across cultures but also help refine theoretical groundings on how multiple social relationships shape individuals’ psychological functioning.

Age and gender differences

Based on life span theories (Carstensen, 1998; Kahn & Antonucci, 1980), we hypothesized that the beneficial effects of social support and the adverse effects of social strain from friends on well-being would be stronger for younger adults than for older adults and that the protective effects of spousal and familial support on well-being would be stronger for older adults than for younger adults. Overall, friend support was a consistent and robust predictor of different aspects of psychological well-being and it remained significant across different age groups. However, as we anticipated, the beneficial effects of friend support for well-being and loneliness were greater for younger adults than for older adults. For young adults, friend support could play a particularly salient role in enhancing their well-being and reducing loneliness and distress (Arroyo et al., 2022; Lee & Goldstein, 2016) because their well-being is more strongly linked to friend support than to family support (Allen et al., 2000). For older adults, this pattern changes, with social support from direct family members becoming more strongly tied to their well-being (Segrin, 2003; Walen & Lachman, 2000). Our findings indeed indicated that social support from children was more helpful in buffering the adverse effect of loneliness for older adults than for younger adults. These results are in line with prior evidence on socioemotional selectivity theory (Carstensen, 1995), which emphasizes that focal relationships and their salience can change over the life course. Compared to younger adults who envision unlimited time ahead of them and thus have a strong motivation to explore about themselves and others (thus, focus on relationships with a variety of friends), older adults envision less amount of time left to live and thus concentrate on those who are the most important to them.

However, we also found that the negative impact of child strain on depressive symptoms was diminished more for older adults than for younger adults, and the protective effects of spousal support on depressive symptoms was greater for younger adults than for older adults. Why are older adults less affected by child strain and spousal support when it comes to depressive symptoms? A potential explanation could be that aging necessitates older adults to adjust their social goals and perspectives and narrow down previous ones to maintain enhanced psychological well-being (the selective optimization with compensation assumption; Baltes & Baltes, 1990; Carstensen, 2006). That is, older adults may gradually downplay psychological needs that cannot be fulfilled in a certain life stage and focus on needs that can be satisfied more easily to maintain their sense of well-being. Thus, as people age, they become more selective in their social relationships and try to maintain relationships with those who enhance their emotional well-being (Carstensen, 1992). Our findings with respect to age differences in social support and psychological well-being (i.e., younger adults reported higher levels of social support and depressive symptoms than older adults, whereas older adults reported higher levels of happiness and well-being but lower levels of depressive symptoms than younger adults) are consistent with this notion.

Consistent with our hypotheses on gender differences, beneficial effects of friend support on well-being and loneliness were greater for women than for men. In addition, only women reaped the benefits from child support for well-being and the protective effect of spousal support for depressive symptoms was greater for women than for men. This is consistent with previous research regarding gender differences in the nature and the influence of social relationships (Schuster et al., 1990). It is noteworthy that social support from children was more strongly associated with mothers’ well-being than that of fathers. Mothers and fathers are expected to have different roles within families, leading to different nature of social relationships with their children (Suitor & Pillemer, 2013). As fathers generally work outside of the family and mothers are more likely to take care of their children, fathers tend to invest less in their children than mothers do in terms of providing emotional and instrumental support and spending time together (Kalmijn, 1999). Accordingly, women’s psychological needs could be more visible to their children and thus, women could receive more support and associated benefits than men from their children (Silverstein et al., 1995). Given scant attention has been given to the characteristics of adult mother–child and father–child relationships and their associations with psychological well-being, future research should investigate this issue in more detail.

Limitations and strengths

This study has several limitations that should be noted. First, all constructs examined in this study were based on self-reported measures. With focus on individuals’ relational experience and psychological well-being functioning, using self-reported information could provide critical insights. However, relying on self-reported measures could contribute to greater associations between constructs due to shared method variance. Obtaining reports from additional sources such as spouses or friends could enhance the measurement validity of the construct. Second, the current study was cross-sectional in research design and correlational in nature. Future work that employs a longitudinal research design could build on current results to ascertain the directionality of the associations. Using multiple time points over a longer time frame could be particularly valuable for providing insights into how social support and strain from different relationship sources work together to influence psychological well-being against the backdrop of changing social contexts.

Notwithstanding these limitations, the current research has several strong points. First, this study was conducted with a large sample of South Korean adults. Although much research has underscored the significant and accumulative effects of social support and strain on psychological well-being, evidence has largely emanated from Western countries, leaving the universality unaddressed. The current study responds to this research gap by focusing on the relative impact of different relationships and their interactive effects using non-Western populations. Our large sample size also afforded adequate statistical power to test the buffering effects with increased confidence in standard error estimates. Our findings open up important avenues for future research on how cultural norms shape the ways in which individuals experience different social relationships and the mechanisms by which multiple relationships jointly affect psychological well-being.

Second, using varying age groups of men and women well-representing each decade of adult life span, the current study could examine similarities and differences in the associations of psychological well-being with relationship-specific social support and strain by age and gender. Our findings underscored that friend support was a robust predictor of different aspects of psychological well-being for both men and women of all age groups. Although the beneficial effects of friend support were greater for younger adults than for older adults, the effect sizes of such differences were small. Although spouses and family often provide support, the preponderance of family in older adults’ personal networks is partly due to the fact that those social ties are difficult to sever (Krause & Rook, 2003). Whereas social support provided by family may be considered as obligatory, friends in general choose to provide support. Such achieved nature of friendships could have increasing significance as people age particularly because older adults tend to maintain only emotionally meaningful social ties and discard problematic social ties in personal networks as they age (Carstensen et al., 2003). One consequence of such increasing social selectivity with age is that older adults become more reliant on fewer relationship partners for their social support than younger adults (Antonucci et al., 1996). Having recognized this, the current findings suggest that older adults should be encouraged to develop positive social relationships with friends because they can be important resources to promote psychological well-being and to buffer social strain with family members.

Conclusion

The current research contributes unique information to the field on how relationship-specific social support and strain are differently associated with both positive and negative aspects of psychological well-being, and whether there are age or gender differences in these associations. Our findings add to growing evidence that social support from spouses and friends becomes more important for psychological well-being across the adult lifespan and accentuate that specifying and distinguishing different relationship sources are important to clarify their varying implications. The findings also underscore that social support and strain from different relationship sources can accumulate and interact in their effects, and such effects can vary by age and gender. Specifically, evidence for several buffering effects was found between parents and spouses. The interactive effects of social support from parents and social strain negative interactions with spouses suggest the evidence of reverse buffering effects. Future researchers considering more diverse types of social relationships are encouraged to expand current research and to investigate whether other types of social relationships (e.g., siblings, romantic partners, colleagues) relate differently to individuals’ psychological well-being. Such research could provide valuable insights into the relative and cumulative significance of various social relationships and different effect sizes of importance among distinctive relationships. Future studies can also examine factors that might strengthen or attenuate the associations between relational experiences and psychological well-being. For example, research that considers strengths of different social relationships (e.g., the amount of time spent together, interaction frequency, and emotional intensity) could provide valuable information about how diverse indicators of psychological well-being can be differentially influenced by the quality of their social relationships (e.g., why loneliness and depressive symptoms are differentially influenced by spousal support).

Footnotes

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Open research statement

As part of IARR’s encouragement of open research practices, the authors have provided the following information: This research was not pre-registered.

The data used in the research are available upon request. The data can be obtained by emailing: shinhy@jbnu.ac.kr.

ORCID iD

Huiyoung Shin

Appendix

Table A1.

Demographic Information of Participants.

	20s	30s	40s	50s	60s	All
Sample size (N)	210	203	204	209	207	1033
Age, mean (SD)	25.32(2.83)	34.51(2.75)	43.97(2.91)	53.20(2.70)	63.27(2.73)	44.05(13.71)
Gender
Male, N (%)	100 (19%)	100 (19%)	104 (20%)	105 (20%)	106 (21%)	515
Female, N (%)	110 (21%)	103 (20%)	100 (19%)	104 (20%)	101 (19%)	518
Education
<High school, N (%)	89 (35%)	21 (8%)	37 (15%)	47 (18%)	61 (24%)	255
Some colleage, N (%)	116 (17%)	161 (24%)	149 (22%)	133 (20%)	120 (18%)	679
Graduate school, N (%)	5 (17%)	21 (24%)	18 (22%)	29 (20%)	26 (18%)	99
Income
<$10,000, N (%)	38 (19%)	24 (12%)	33 (16%)	56 (28%)	52 (26%)	203
$10,000-$20,000, N (%)	26 (29%)	11 (12%)	15 (16%)	14 (15%)	25 (27%)	91
$20,000-$30,000, N (%)	47 (30%)	30 (19%)	24 (15%)	27 (12%)	28 (18%)	156
$30,000-$40,000, N (%)	44 (24%)	45 (25%)	34 (19%)	21 (12%)	38 (21%)	182
>$40,000, N (%)	55 (14%)	93 (23%)	98 (24%)	91 (23%)	64 (16%)	401
Retirement status
Retired, N (%)	4 (2%)	3 (2%)	11 (7%)	26 (15%)	125 (74%)	169
Not retired, N (%)	206 (24%)	200 (23%)	193 (22%)	183 (21%)	82 (9%)	864
Marital status
Married, N (%)	9 (2%)	87 (15%)	145 (25%)	171 (29%)	172 (29%)	584
Single, N (%)	201 (45%)	116 (26%)	59 (13%)	38 (8%)	35 (8%)	449
Childen
One or more, N (%)	5 (1%)	54 (9%)	142 (25%)	183 (32%)	195 (34%)	579
None, N (%)	205 (45%)	149 (33%)	62 (14%)	26 (6%)	12 (3%)	454

Table A2.

Differences on research variables between age groups.

	20s (n = 209)		30s (n = 204)		40s (n = 203)		50s (n = 210)		60s (n = 207)		F(p)
	M	SD	M	SD	M	SD	M	SD	M	SD	F(p)	Post hoc
Support
Spouses	3.93	.52	3.92	.84	3.54	.98	3.38	.98	3.54	.93	5.08***	b > d
Friends	3.53	.81	3.32	.84	3.05	.79	2.85	.87	2.98	.82	22.89***	a > c, d, e b > c, d, e
Parents	3.49	.96	3.23	.93	2.93	.96	2.77	.96	2.67	1.06	25.07***	a > b, c, d, e b > c, d, e
Children	3.33	1.35	2.94	.99	2.76	.86	2.66	.90	3.04	.93	4.95***	e > d
Strain
Spouses	2.11	.85	2.03	.89	2.41	.96	2.45	.90	2.39	.91	3.49**	d > b
Friends	1.85	.86	1.84	.92	1.84	.86	1.84	.85	1.71	.76	1.04	-
Parents	2.00	.99	2.04	1.01	1.92	.92	1.88	.92	1.74	.93	2.96*	b > a
Children	1.87	.96	2.06	.96	2.19	.92	2.06	.88	1.77	.75	5.65***	c, d > e
Happiness	3.19	.60	3.17	.59	3.16	.54	3.29	.55	3.20	.56	1.65	-
Well-being	3.28	.59	3.25	.53	3.25	.47	3.24	.48	3.38	.50	2.51*	e > d
Loneliness	2.33	.80	2.51	.78	2.58	.68	2.62	.70	2.49	.71	4.65***	a < c, d
Depressive symptoms	17.80	11.55	17.22	10.78	16.81	10.59	16.52	10.87	13.45	10.25	4.68***	e < a, b, c, d

Note. N = 1033; a = 20s, b = 30s, c = 40s, d = 50s, e = 60s. *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001.

Table A3.

Differences on research variables between men and women.

	Men (n = 515)		Women (n = 518)		t
	M	SD	M	SD	t
Support
Spouses	3.64	.83	3.48	1.06	2.06*
Friends	3.14	.86	3.15	.86	−.14
Parents	3.16	.97	2.88	1.06	4.33***
Children	2.67	.90	3.02	.92	−4.59***
Strain
Spouses	2.34	.93	2.37	.92	−.32
Friends	1.96	.91	1.68	.77	5.39***
Parents	1.91	.98	1.92	.94	−.26
Children	1.97	.86	2.01	.88	−.62
Happiness	3.23	.53	3.16	.59	2.11*
Well-being	3.30	.49	3.26	.54	1.25
Loneliness	2.50	.69	2.51	.79	−.20
Depressive symptoms	15.46	10.34	17.26	11.37	−2.66**

Note. N = 1033; *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001.

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