Abstract: Shidu parents refer to those parents who lost their only children. The death of the only child could endanger the mental health. Therefore, social support from the community might play an important role. Study 1 adopted a qualitative design with in-person interviews on the community support received by Shidu parents from 27 participants. Study 2 adopted a quantitative design using questionnaires to examine the associations between community support and Shidu parents’ mental health from 297 participants. The results of Study 1 indicated that:(1) Shidu parents received three types of support from community, namely material support, emotional support, and service; (2) Main sources of the community supports include the government, social workers in community, and support from the government plays a key role. The results of study 2 suggested that:(1) Regard to the objective support, family support but not community support can directly predict Shidu parents’ mental health; (2) Regard to the subjective support, both community support and family support can directly predict Shidu parents’ mental health; and both can play the role of mediator between objective support and mental health. In conclusion, community support plays important role in sustaining Shidu parents’ mental health, which ensures the government’s policy and practice for helping this vulnerable population. Meanwhile, more concerns need to be focused on Shidu parents’ true needs and subjective feelings of the government supports.

Key words: Shidu, social support, community support, mental health, older adult