Influence of Social Support Gap During Daily Stress on Daily Affect of Older Adults

Objectives We investigated the interactive effects of social support gap and daily event stress on daily affect among older adults. We hypothesized that social support gap would be associated with decreased daily positive affect and increased daily negative affect. We also hypothesized that there would be significant interactive effects of daily social support gap and daily event stress on daily affect. Methods To test these hypotheses, we conducted a daily diary study with 145 older adults ages 65- 89 (M = 73.5, SD = 6.0). Participants completed seven daily surveys assessing the stress and emotional support they received and needed each day, in addition to positive and negative affects. Results As hypothesized, there were significant within-person relationships between daily social support gap (ie, received less support than needed) and affect. That is, on days when participants reported larger daily social support gaps than usual, they reported higher levels of negative affect and lower levels of positive affect. Additionally, there was a significant interactive effect of social support gap and daily event stress on daily negative affect. Specifically, participants exhibited higher levels of negative affect following daily event stress on days reporting large social support gaps than on days reporting small social support gaps. Discussion These findings advance the current understanding of the stress-buffering effects of social support and highlight the importance of considering the gap between received and needed social support when considering the impact of social support on well-being among older adults when experiencing stress.