AI Insight
This study of 8,131 participants examined how perceived social support affects psychological distress in the post-pandemic era, finding that this relationship is mediated by perceived stress and moderated by psychological resilience. Higher perceived social support was associated with lower psychological distress through reduced perceived stress, but this protective effect varied significantly based on individual resilience levels. Notably, at low resilience levels, the relationship reversed, suggesting that social support does not uniformly benefit all individuals in reducing stress.
Why it matters
These findings suggest that mental health interventions in the post-pandemic period should account for individual differences in psychological resilience rather than assuming social support universally reduces distress. The results indicate that individuals with low resilience may require targeted interventions beyond simply increasing their social support networks.
Understand the Science
BackgroundIn the post-pandemic era, the continuation of social distancing and the popularization of social media are changing people’s psychological states. This study examined the effect of perceived social support on general psychological distress via perceived stress, as well as the moderating role of psychological resilience.MethodsA nationwide sample of 8,131 valid responses was obtained through convenience sampling via the Questionnaire Star platform between February and March 2025. The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), the Chinese Perceived Stress Scale (CPSS), the Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-10), and the 28-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) were used to evaluate the related variables. The moderated mediation model was tested using Hayes’ PROCESS macro (Version 4.3), and the bias-corrected bootstrap method was used for analysis.ResultsPerceived stress was positively associated with general psychological distress (β = 0.3628, p < 0.001). The interaction between perceived social support and psychological resilience was significant in predicting perceived stress (β = −0.3595, p < 0.001) and general psychological distress (β = 0.0803, p < 0.001). Conditional indirect effects were significant at low and high levels of resilience but reversed in sign: at low resilience (M-1SD), the indirect effect was positive [0.0903, 95%CI (0.0716, 0.1105)], whereas at high resilience, it was negative.ConclusionPerceived social support was associated with lower general psychological distress, in part through lower perceived stress; psychological resilience moderated the paths from perceived social support to perceived stress and general psychological distress. The crossover interaction at low psychological resilience suggests that perceived social support does not uniformly translate into perceived stress relief across individuals.