SOCIAL SUPPORT AND UNDERMINING IN CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS - THEIR INDEPENDENT EFFECTS ON THE MENTAL-HEALTH OF UNEMPLOYED PERSONS

Structural equation analyses were used to examine the impact of social support vs. social undermining (conflict) on mental health in longitu dinal data from 1,087 recently unemployed respondents. The results dem onstrated that social support and social undermining were not the oppo site poles of the same factor, each having some impact independent of the other. Social undermining had statistically significant and strong adverse impact at each concurrent level of mental health. It also pre dicted improvement (but not a high level) in mental health in subseque nt time waves. In contrast, social support had a significant beneficia l impact on mental health only at Time 1. Compared with the volatile a nd extreme effects of social undermining, those of social support appe ar weaker but more stable. These findings are consistent with literatu re on the impact of life events (S. E. Taylor, 1991) and on marital in teractions and satisfaction (J. M. Gottman & L. J. Krokoff, 1989).