Family support associated with lower COVID stress and better mood in Filipinos
Perceived stress partly explains how family and partner support—but not friend support—link to better mood and less anxiety/depression during COVID-19.
Source
Social support and mental health: the mediating role of perceived stress
Study at a glance
- Design
- Cross-sectional — Online COVID-era mediation survey of MSPSS, PSS-10, PANAS, and DASS-21
- N
- N=426 · Filipino adults surveyed July–August 2021; mean age 28.4
- Population
- Filipino adults during peak COVID-19
- Outcome
- Perceived stress mediating social support and mental health
Structured fields used in claim comparison tables when every cited study has a complete layer.
What they did
426 Filipino adults completed online COVID-era surveys (July–August 2021) measuring perceived social support (MSPSS), COVID-related perceived stress (PSS-10), positive affect (PANAS), and anxiety/depression (DASS-21). The authors tested whether perceived stress mediated links between three support sources and mental health using PROCESS mediation models with 5,000 bootstrap resamples.
What they found
Family and significant-other support correlated with more positive affect and less anxiety/depression; both paths were significantly mediated by lower perceived stress. Friend support also predicted better mental health directly, but perceived stress did not mediate those links—likely because pandemic restrictions limited friend contact. Sample means showed high perceived support (61.3% high overall), moderate COVID stress (78.2% moderate), and substantial symptom burden (65% moderate–severe anxiety; 49.7% moderate–severe depression).
The limits
What it doesn't show
Cross-sectional online sampling cannot prove causality or rule out shared-method bias from self-report scales. Results from Filipino adults during strict COVID lockdowns may not generalize to other cultures, time periods, or offline social networks. Friend-support null mediation may reflect pandemic-specific social distancing rather than a stable absence of mechanism.
Key terms
- Perceived social support
- The belief that help is available from family, friends, or significant others—not necessarily help actually received.
- Perceived stress (PSS-10)
- A 10-item scale of how uncontrollable and overwhelming life feels; here adapted for COVID-19 stress.
- Mediation
- An indirect pathway: support → lower stress → better mental health, tested with bootstrap confidence intervals.
- MSPSS
- Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support with separate subscales for family, friends, and significant others.
- Positive affect
- Energized, pleasant mood states measured by the PANAS positive subscale (mean score 36.45 in this sample).
- Lazarus & Folkman stress theory
- Framework proposing that social resources shape stress appraisal, which then affects emotional outcomes.
Flashcards
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Quiz yourself
How many participants were in this study?
Common questions
Who was surveyed?
426 Filipino adults completed online measures during peak COVID-19 restrictions (July–August 2021).
Which support sources mattered through stress?
Family and significant-other support linked to better mood and less anxiety/depression partly via lower perceived stress; friend support helped directly but not through the stress mediation path.
How common were anxiety and depression symptoms?
About 65% reported moderate-to-severe anxiety and 49.7% moderate-to-severe depression on DASS-21.
What theory framed the mediation test?
Lazarus and Folkman’s stress appraisal framework—support may buffer outcomes by changing perceived stress.
What limit should readers keep?
Cross-sectional self-report during Filipino lockdowns cannot prove causality or generalize to all cultures or non-pandemic periods.
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