Examining the Relationship Between Undergraduate Student Parent Social Support-Seeking Factors, Stress, and Somatic Symptoms: A Two-Model Comparison of Direct and Indirect Effects

ABSTRACT

Approximately 4.8 million undergraduate students are also raising at least one child but only 26% of these student parents will graduate within six years. This study aimed to examine how academic and parenting stress influence the relationship between support-seeking factors (i.e., the costs of seeking support and communicated support availability) and somatic health symptoms such as headaches, sleep disruption, and exercise. Two parallel mediation models (n = 185 undergraduate student parents) are compared and revealed strong patterns of indirect effects. Intrapersonal and interpersonal costs indirectly influenced somatic symptoms through academic and parenting stress. Stress also mediated the relationship between support seeking factors and somatic symptoms. Theoretical implications and practical applications are discussed.