title: Social support, social stressors at work, and depressive symptoms: testing for main and moderating effects with structural equations in a three-wave longitudinal study.
abstract: This study investigated the moderating effects of social support by supervisors and colleagues relative to social stressors at work and depressive symptoms using a structural equations approach in a 3-wave longitudinal study over 1 year. The analyses were based on a randomly drawn sample (N = 543) of citizens in the area around Dresden in the former East Germany. LISREL analysis with latent moderating effects revealed a moderating effect for supervisor support. This applied only if the time lag was 8 months, but not for longer or shorter lags. Under low-support conditions depressive symptoms were increased by social stressors, whereas, contrary to expectations, social stressors reduced subsequent depressive symptoms under high-support conditions. No moderating effect for colleague support was found. Several mechanisms are discussed that may explain the results.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Giessen, Germany. dormann@psych.uni-frankfurt.de
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dormann
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zapf
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012922:Social Change; D012944:Social Support; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications*; D016526:Workload / Q000523:psychology*