Stress, social support, and internalizing problems: Domains of stress and support

Social support has been consistently identified as a protective factor for youth. Two competing models have been proposed regarding the role of social support: one in which social support provides benefits for all youth (General Benefits) and one where youth undergoing stress are especially protected (Stress-Buffering). While the General Benefits model is supported, evidence for Stress-Buffering is more mixed. These disparate findings may be attributed to how different sources of social support (i.e., parents, teachers, classmates, and friends) interact with different stressors in relation to internalizing problems. The current study investigated the relationships between different stressors (i.e., family, academic, and social), sources of social support, and internalizing problems in a sample of 166 middle school students. The General Benefits model was supported for all sources of social support. Surprisingly, vulnerability-enhancing effects were found for high teacher and parent support, wherein the positive association between internalizing problems and social stress was strengthened with high teacher and parent support.