Social support and depressive symptoms: exploring stigma and self-efficacy in a moderated mediation model

Abstract

Abstract Background Although some psychological processes, such as stigma and self-efficacy, affect the complicated relationship between social support and depressive symptoms, few studies explored a similar psychological mechanism among individuals with substance use disorders (SUDs). Hence, this research investigates the mediating effects of stigma and the moderating effects of self-efficacy among the psychological mechanism that social support affects depressive symptoms. Methods The study included 1040 Chinese participants with SUDs and completed a series of self-report questionnaires. R software was used to organize and clean up data sets and analyze mediation and moderation effects. Results The result showed that stigma partially mediated depressive symptoms, while self-efficacy moderated this relationship. More specifically, less social support increased depression symptoms by bringing about higher stigma. Besides, subjects with higher self-efficacy are less susceptible to stigma and therefore have mild depressive symptoms. Furthermore, clinical and theoretical implications are discussed in our study. Conclusions Chinese SUDs patients’ depressive symptoms were indirectly affected by perceived social support via stigma and less affected by stigma with improved self-efficacy. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.