title: Factors Related to Social Support in Neurological and Mental Disorders.
abstract: Despite the huge body of research on social support, literature has been primarily focused on its beneficial role for both physical and mental health. It is still unclear why people with mental and neurological disorders experience low levels of social support. The main objective of this study was to explore what are the strongest factors related to social support and how do they interact with each other in neuropsychiatric disorders. The study used cross-sectional data from 722 persons suffering from dementia, depression, epilepsy, migraine, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia, stroke, and substance use disorders. Multiple linear regressions showed that disability was the strongest factor for social support. Extraversion and agreeableness were significant personality variables, but when the interaction terms between personality traits and disability were included, disability remained the only significant variable. Moreover, level of disability mediated the relationship between personality (extraversion and agreeableness) and level of social support. Moderation analysis revealed that people that had mental disorders experienced lower levels of support when being highly disabled compared to people with neurological disorders. Unlike previous literature, focused on increasing social support as the origin of improving disability, this study suggested that interventions improving day-to-day functioning or maladaptive personality styles might also have an effect on the way people perceive social support. Future longitudinal research, however, is warranted to explore causality.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Centro Investigación Biomédica en Red, CIBER, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Kaloyan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kamenov
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Centro Investigación Biomédica en Red, CIBER, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cabello
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Centro Investigación Biomédica en Red, CIBER, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Francisco Félix
authors.initials: FF
authors.lastname: Caballero
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, School of Psychology, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom.|Department of Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology-IBE, Chair for Public Health and Health Services, Research, Research Unit for Biopsychosocial Health, Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU), Munich, Germany.|Swiss Paraplegic Research, Nottwil, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Alarcos
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cieza
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology-IBE, Chair for Public Health and Health Services, Research, Research Unit for Biopsychosocial Health, Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU), Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sabariego
authors.affiliation: Neurological Institute "C. Besta" IRCCS Foundation, Neurology, Public Health and Disability Unit, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Raggi
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Anczewska
authors.affiliation: A-Clinic Foundation, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Tuuli
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pitkänen
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Centro Investigación Biomédica en Red, CIBER, Madrid, Spain.|Department of Psychiatry, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.|Instituto de investigación de la Princesa, (IIS-IP), Hospital Universitario de la Princesa, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Jose Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Ayuso-Mateos
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000523:psychology; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D010551:Personality; D012307:Risk Factors; D012944:Social Support; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors