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  Monday, March 22, 2004

Emotional Support and Health

Researchers from the State University of New York at Albany and the University of Michigan studied 2,905 adults between the age of 25-74 to evaluate the relationship between receiving emotional support from parents early in life and an individual's health in adulthood. Results suggest that a lack of parental support during childhood is associated with increased levels of depression and chronic health conditions in adulthood.

The parent-child relationship serves as the context within which important health-enhancing social and psychological development take place. Just as a positive relationship of caring and support lays a good foundation, a negative environment may influence the evolving structure and quality of one's network of social relations and support over life's course. Problems in the development of this important social resource may compromise individual health and well-being. Research generally focuses on the immediate positive and negative effects of early parental support in areas such as adolescent substance abuse. Evaluating the long-term effects of parental support received during childhood and its impact on health and mental health in adults is a novel approach. 

Depressive symptomatology was used as an indicator of psychological health. Respondents reported how often during the past 30 days they experienced each of several different depressive symptoms. (hopelessness, worthlessness, restlessness, etc) Chronic health conditions were evaluated by respondents reporting whether they had chronic health problems. (asthma, arthritis, hypertension, diabetes, etc) Emotional support and the quality of one’s social relationships were assessed by questions measuring positive and negative aspects of emotional support individuals received from their family and their friends and specific questions about satisfaction with these relationships.

The results from this study provide some preliminary insight into factors that link early social conditions with adult health and well-being. In this study, researchers found that the relationship between early parental support and adult health is largely due to associations between these early relationships and important psychosocial resources. In addition to studing some of the mental health consequences of parent-child relationships, these findings evaluate both psychological and physical health.

Additional reading

Life-course research

Recent studies on health and social development


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