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

Vollständiger Abstract

Worum geht es in dieser Arbeit?

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.