The buffer effect of social support on depression among immigrants.

The influence of stressful life events and social support networks on depre ssion was analysed in a sample of immigrants. The Mannheim Social Support Q uestionnaire, the CES-D, and the scale of problems of Die & Seelbach were u sed. According to bivariates correlations, those immigrants with unfavourab le vital circumstances and those that considered their social support syste m as insufficient, obtained higher scores on the depression scale. Furtherm ore, in the lineal regression analysis an interactive effect between severi ty of problems and sufficiency of social support was obtained: the sufficie ncy of social support showed a buffer role only when individuals experience d a big amount of personal problems. Thus, the buffering effect of social s upport was confirmed.