Perceived social support helps, but does not buffer the negative impact of anxiety disorders on quality of life and perceived stress.
OBJECTIVE
Anxiety disorders are prevalent and substantially hinder quality of life, in all domains, including social connections, mental and physical health. Past research on stress indicates that perceived social support improves wellbeing both directly by providing positive experiences and indirectly through buffering the effects of stress. This study examined whether social support moderates the negative impact of anxiety disorders on quality of life.


METHODS
The study was conducted on a community sample in Cyprus, screened for anxiety disorders. The hypothesized model takes into account potential differences between individuals with and without anxiety in health, tendency to seek support, stressful life events, and depression. Furthermore, differences between different anxiety disorders on these variables were examined.


RESULTS
Results indicate that perceived social support has a positive, direct effect on quality of life and perceived stress for all participants but that it does not appear to moderate the adverse effects of having a disorder on quality of life or stress. The negative effects of anxiety appeared to mostly be carried by comorbid depression.


CONCLUSIONS
Social support is important for quality of life. Potential interventions for anxiety disorders should take this into account, as well as the substantially detrimental role of co-morbid depression symptoms on wellbeing outcomes.
Department of Psychology, University of Cyprus, P.O. Box 20537, 1678 Nicosia, Cyprus. georgiap@ucy.ac.cy
Georgia
G
Panayiotou
Maria
M
Karekla
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D003535:Cyprus; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010465:Perception; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012944:Social Support; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires