Depressive symptomatology and specificity of social support

Psychosocial interventions should be based on research which reflects the m ultidimensionality of psychosocial constructs. This study investigated six categories of social support which were associated with depressive symptoma tology in a sample of 531 college students. The Social Provisions Scale was used to measure social support while the Center for Epidemiological Studie s-Depression Scale was used to measure depressive symptomatology. Standard multiple regression analysis was used to analyze the variance contributed b y each of the six categories of social support found on the Social Provisio ns Scale to depressive symptomatology. Specifically, the following categori es of social support were significantly associated with depressive symptoma tology: Reassurance of Worth (for male and female respondents) and Attachme nt (for females only). Implications for practice and research are discussed .