The Relationship Between Daily Hassles and Social Support on Depressive Symptoms among Mothers of Young Kids

Abstract

Introduction: The aim of this paper is to determine the relationship between the common factors of mothers’ depressive symptoms based on the existing literature, including the current happenings within Malaysians. Methods: This study involved mothers from four community housing projects around Kuala Lumpur (n = 146), and with consent, they were asked to complete a questionnaire, which included the following three instruments: Parenting Daily Hassles Scales, Social Support Scales, and Beck Depressive symptoms Inventory to measure all stated variables in this study. Results and Discussion: The results of the study showed the significant relationship between the daily hassles (DH) and social support (SS) towards the depressive symptoms among the mothers, DH, r = .272, p = .001 and SS, r = -.230, p = .006. Further analysis was consummated to determine the factors that could influence the depressive symptoms among mothers and the contribution of variance towards that. From the analysis, DH and SS contributed 13.9% of the variance (Adjusted R2 = .139) and were found to influence the depressive symptoms among the mothers. Conclusion: The ANOVA test analysis supported the earlier study that the daily hassles and social support statistics significantly predict the depressive symptoms among mothers. In conclusion, this study should be broadedned to a bigger community, and future efforts as an early intervention on health promotion are essential to strengthen social support by reducing stressors effect that contributes to mental health problems in mothers of young kids.