The Effect of Social Support on the Mental Health Literacy of Parents Who Have Children with Special Needs: A Moderated Mediating Effect

Abstract

Background

It is well known that parents play an important role in the family, particularly the mental health literacy of parents is essential for the growth and development of children. As the parents of children with special needs, they are facing more difficulties and psychological pressure, resulted in more mental health problems.

Purpose

The current study examined the effect of social support on mental health literacy, and its underlying mechanisms regarding the mediating role of coping styles and moderating role of social comparison.

Methods

Using a cross-sectional design, 165 parents of children with special needs (22–67 years old, M=37.72, SD=8.78) participated in the study. The general information questionnaire, Mental Health Literacy Scale (MHLS), Social Support Rating Scale, Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire, and Social Comparison Orientation Scale were used.

Results

We found that objective support positively predicted the mental health literacy, positive coping style played a mediating role between objective support and mental health literacy. In addition, the relationship between objective support and positive coping styles was moderated by social comparisons; for lower levels of opinion social comparison, the effect of objective support on positive coping styles was significantly stronger.

Conclusion

We revealed the underlying mechanisms between social support and mental health literacy. The present study has profound implications for mental health literacy services for parents who have children with special needs.

Keywords:

• parents of children with special needs
• social support
• mental health literacy
• coping styles
• social comparison orientation

Data Sharing Statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by corresponding author, without undue reservation.

Ethics Statement

The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of Chong Qing Normal University. The patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the reviewers for their helpful comments and feedback on this article.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by Humanities and Social Science Youth Project of the Ministry of Education(19YJC190006), The 72th Batch of General Financial Grant from the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(2022M720597), Venture & Innovation Support Program for Chongqing Overseas Returnees(cx2018107), Chongqing Social Science Planning and Cultivation Project(2020PY61), Scientific and Technological Research Program of Chongqing Municipal Education Commission(KJQN202000508), General Project of Humanities and Social Sciences Research of Chongqing Municipal Education Commission(22SKGH109), Youth Project of the Chongqing Education Science Planning(K22YY205692), General Project of scientific research on disability prevention and rehabilitation in the disabled people in Chongqing(KFKT202204), Open Research Fund of Key laboratory of cognition and personality, Ministry of Education, Doctoral Fund of Chongqing Normal Universi-ty(18xwb005), Chongqing Graduate Education Teaching Reform Research Project in 2021 (yjg213072).