title: Interactive effects of social support and social conflict on medication adherence in multimorbid older adults.
abstract: With increasing age and multimorbidity, medication regimens become demanding, potentially resulting in suboptimal adherence. Social support has been discussed as a predictor of adherence, but previous findings are inconsistent. The study examines general social support, medication-specific social support, and social conflict as predictors of adherence at two points in time (6 months apart) to test the mobilization and social conflict hypotheses. A total of 309 community-dwelling multimorbid adults (65-85 years, mean age 73.27, 41.7% women; most frequent illnesses: hypertension, osteoarthritis and hyperlipidemia) were recruited from the population-representative German Ageing Survey. Only medication-specific support correlated with adherence. Controlling for baseline adherence, demographics, physical fitness, medication regimen, and attitude, Time 1 medication-specific support negatively predicted Time 2 adherence, and vice versa. The negative relation between earlier medication-specific support and later adherence was not due to mobilization (low adherence mobilizing support from others, which over time would support adherence). Social conflict moderated the medication-specific support to adherence relationship: the relationship became more negative, the more social conflict participants reported. Presence of social conflict should be considered when received social support is studied, because well-intended help might have the opposite effect, when it coincides with social conflict.
authors: Department of Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany. lisa.warner@fu-berlin.de
authors: Lisa M
authors: LM
authors: Warner
authors: Benjamin
authors: B
authors: Schüz
authors: Leona
authors: L
authors: Aiken
authors: Jochen P
authors: JP
authors: Ziegelmann
authors: Susanne
authors: S
authors: Wurm
authors: Clemens
authors: C
authors: Tesch-Römer
authors: Ralf
authors: R
authors: Schwarzer
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000374:Aggression; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D016903:Drug Monitoring