Psychological Development and Education ›› 2015, Vol. 31 ›› Issue (4): 393-401.doi: 10.16187/j.cnki.issn1001-4918.2015.04.02

Previous Articles     Next Articles

Meta-analytic Review on The Gender Differences in Perceived Social Support

ZHANG Shupeng, ZHANG Qingyao, LI Caina   

  1. Department of Psychology, Key Laboratory of Modern Teaching Technology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an 710062, China
  • Online:2015-07-15 Published:2015-07-15

Abstract: Researches on stress and coping strategy have shown that one of the most effective means by which individuals cope with stressful events is social support. There has been substantial evidence showing the benefits of different forms of social support for both mental and physical health, of which the perceived social support is the most essential one. Most existing researches showed that females perceived more social support than males, but some others held the contrary opinion. However, up to now, there has been not a comprehensive review regarding this controversy.
A meta-analysis of 58 independent studies published between 2002 and 2014, which employed the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support to investigate gender difference in perceived social support among Chinese, was conducted in present study. 31286 participants (15279 males) were included in this analysis. After literature selection and screening, 59 independent effect sizes (Cohen's d) were picked out as meta-analysis unit according to the inclusion criteria. After coding of study characteristics, independent effect sizes were analyzed by Synthesizer 1.0 R software. The present research included three methodological procedures, including main effect analysis, publication bias test and moderation effect analysis. In addition, the fixed-effect model that assumed a common effect for results of all researches performed poorly under the condition of effect size heterogeneity, and the unrealistic assumption about random sampling of observed effect sizes from a normally distributed superpopulation of random-effect model made it difficult to achieve (Krizan, 2009), so the varying-coefficient model recently proposed by Bonett (2008, 2009) was preferred in this article. As shown in results: (1) there existed a significant gender difference in perceived social support, specifically, females scored higher than males on overall support, family support, support outside family, friends support, and significant others support; (2) the results of the moderation analyses indicated that the gender differences in family support and overall support among middle school students was smaller, as compared to those of undergraduates.
To sum up, females did perceive more social support than males and the gender difference among middle school students was smaller than that of undergraduates on family support and overall support. The results could be explained by the gender difference in perception, or/and the fact that females get more supports from the surroundings. The implications of these findings were also discussed.

Key words: Perceived Social Support, Gender Differences, Meta-analysis

CLC Number: 

  • B844
Bandura, Albert. “Social learning theory.” (1977). New York: Elsevier Science, 20-21
Blumenthal, J. A., Burg, M. M., Barefoot, J., Williams, R. B., Haney, T., & Zimet, G. (1987). Social support, type A behavior, and coronary artery disease. Psychosomatic Medicine, 49(4), 331-340.
Bolger, N., Zuckerman, A., & Kessler, R. C. (2000). Invisible support and adjustment to stress. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(6), 953-96.
Bonett, D. G. (2008). Meta-analytic confidence intervals for bivariate correlations. Psychological Methods, 13, 173-189.
Bonett, D. G. (2009). Meta-analytic confidence intervals for standardized and unstandardized mean differences. Psychological Methods, 14, 225-238.
Bonett, D. G. (2010). Varying coefficient meta-analytic methods for alpha reliability. Psychological Methods, 15, 368-385.
Bruwer, B., Emsley, R., Kidd, M., Lochner, C., & Seedat, S. (2008). Psychometric properties of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support in youth. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 49(2), 195-201.
Buss, D. M. (1995). Psychological sex differences: Origins through sexual selection. American Psychologist, Vol 50(3), Mar 1995, 164-168.
Bussey, K., & Bandura, A. (1999). Social cognitive theory of gender development and differentiation. Psychological Review, 106(4), 676-713.
Cheng, S. T., & Chan, A. (2004). The multidimensional scale of perceived social support: dimensionality and age and gender differences in adolescents. Personality and Individual Differences, 37(7), 1359-1369.
Chou, K. L. (2000). Assessing Chinese adolescents' social support: the multidimensional scale of perceived social support. Personality and Individual Differences, 28(2), 299-307.
Cohen, J. (1992). Statistical power analysis. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 1(3), 98-101.
Cohen, S., & Wills, T. A. (1985). Stress, social support, and the buffering hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 98(2), 310-356.
Dalgard, O. S., Dowrick, C., Lehtinen, V., Vazquez-Barquero, J. L., Casey, P., Wilkinson, G., et al. (2006). Negative life events, social support and gender difference in depression. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 41(6), 444-451.
De Bellis, M. D., Keshavan, M. S., Beers, S. R., Hall, J., Frustaci, K., Masalehdan, A.,et al. (2001). Sex differences in brain maturation during childhood and adolescence. Cerebral Cortex, 11(6), 552-557.
Diener, E. (2000). Subjective well-being: The science of happiness and a proposal for a national index. American Psychologist, 55(1), 34-43.
Eagly, A. H. (2013). Sex differences in social behavior: A social-role interpretation. Psychology Press, 47-49.
Else-Quest, N. M., Hyde, J. S., Goldsmith, H. H., & Van Hulle, C. A. (2006). Gender differences in temperament: a meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 132(1), 33-72.
Feingold, A. (1994). Gender differences in personality: a meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 116(3), 429-456.
Frese, M. (1999). Social support as a moderator of the relationship between work stressors and psychological dysfunctioning: a longitudinal study with objective measures. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 4(3), 179-192.
Gati, I., & Perez, M. (2014). Gender differences in career preferences from 1990 to 2010: Gaps reduced but not eliminated. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 61(1), 63-80.
Gecková, A., Van Dijk, J. P., Stewart, R., Groothoff, J. W., & Post, D. (2003). Influence of social support on health among gender and socio-economic groups of adolescents. The European Journal of Public Health, 13(1), 44-50.
Ginter, E., Glauser, A., & Richmond, B. O. (1994). Loneliness, social support, and anxiety among two south pacific cultures. Psychological Reports, 74(3), 875-879.
Hobfoll, S. E., & London, P. (1986). The relationship of self-concept and social support to emotional distress among women during war. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 4(2), 189-203.
Huang, C. (2013). Gender differences in academic self-efficacy: a meta-analysis. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 28(1), 1-35.
Krizan, Z. (2010). Synthesizer 1.0: A varying-coefficient meta-analytic tool. Behavior Research Methods, 42, 863-870.
Lenroot, R. K., & Giedd, J. N. (2010). Sex differences in the adolescent brain. Brain and Cognition, 72(1), 46-55.
Matud, M. P., Ibañez, I., Bethencourt, J. M., Marrero, R., & Carballeira, M. (2003). Structural gender differences in perceived social support. Personality and Individual Differences, 35(8), 1919-1929.
Moreno, S.G., Sutton, A.J., Ades, A.E., Stanley, T.D., Abrams, K.R., Peters J.L., et al. (2009). “Assessment of Regression-Based Methods to Adjust for Publication Bias Through a Comprehensive Simulation Study.” BMC Medical Research Methodology, 9(2). URLhttp://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2288/9/2.
Nakhaie, R., & Arnold, R. (2010). A four year (1996-2000) analysis of social capital and health status of Canadians: The difference that love makes. Social Science and Medicine, 71, 1037-1044.
Neff, L. A., & Karney, B. R. (2005). Gender differences in social support: A question of skill or responsiveness?. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88(1), 79-90.
Peters, J.L., Sutton A.J., Jones, D.R., Abrams, K.R., & Rushton, L. (2006). “Comparison of Two Methods to Detect Publication Bias in Meta-Analysis.” Journal of the American Medical Association, 295(6), 676-680.
R Core Team. (2014). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. URL http://www.R-project.org/.
Rosenthal, R. (1979). The “file drawer problem” and tolerance for null results. Psychological Bulletin, 86, 638-641.
Shaw, B.A., Krause, N., Chatters, L.M., Connell, C.M., & Ingersoll Dayton, B. (2004). Emotional support from parents early in life, aging, and health. Psychology and Aging, 19, 4-12.
Stice, E., Rohde, P., Gau, J., & Ochner, C. (2011). Relation of depression to perceived social support: Results from a randomized adolescent depression prevention trial. Behavior Research and Therapy, 49(5), 361-366.
Taylor, S. E., Sherman, D. K., Kim, H. S., Jarcho, J., Takagi, K., & Dunagan, M. S. (2004). Culture and social support: who seeks it and why? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87(3), 354-362.
Twenge, J. M., Gentile, B., DeWall, C. N., Ma, D., Lacefield, K., & Schurtz, D. R. (2010). Birth cohort increases in psychopathology among young Americans, 1938-2007: A cross-temporal meta-analysis of the MMPI. Clinical Psychology Review, 30(2), 145-154.
Viechtbauer, W., Viechtbauer, M. W., & Matrix, S. (2013). Package 'metafor'. Meta-Analysis Package for R, http://cran. r-project. org/web/packages/metafor.
Williams, S., & Cooper, C. L. (1998). Measuring occupational stress: development of the pressure management indicator. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 3(4), 306-321.
Wood, W., & Eagly, A. H. (2002). A cross-cultural analysis of the behavior of women and men: implications for the origins of sex differences. Psychological Bulletin, 128(5), 699-727.
YouMaeda, Y., & Bebeau, M. J. (2011). Gender Differences in Moral Sensitivity: A Meta-Analysis. Ethics & Behavior, 21(4), 263-282.
Zimet, G. D., Dahlem, N. W., Zimet, S. G., & Farley, G. K. (1988). The multidimensional scale of perceived social support. Journal of Personality Assessment, 52(1), 30-41.
Zimet, G. D., Powell, S. S., Farley, G. K., Werkman, S., & Berkoff, K. A. (1990). Psychometric characteristics of the multidimensional scale of perceived social support. Journal of Personality Assessment, 55(3-4), 610-617.
陈抗. (2010). 大学生孤独感, 社会支持状况对主观幸福感的影响研究,华东师范大学硕士论文.
陈启山, 杨丽莎. (2010). 社会支持自我效能感和高职大学毕业生心理健康的关系. 校园心理, (2), 85-87.
陈雪峰, 时勘.(2008). 孤独感与领悟社会支持对大学生心理健康的影响. 中国临床心理学杂志, 16(5), 534-536.
程科, 陈秋燕. (2011). 灾区中学生的创伤后成长与领悟社会支持的关系研究. 西南民族大学学报: 人文社会科学版, (6), 89-93.
杜凌云. (2012). 高中生领悟社会支持及其与归因风格, 一般自我效能感的关系研究, 浙江师范大学硕士论文.
冯娜娜. (2010). 农村留守初中生领悟社会支持与情绪性问题行为的干预研究, 河南大学硕士论文.
盖卫娜. (2011). 高中生领悟社会支持, 应对方式与心理健康的相关性研究, 曲阜师范大学硕士论文.
高静. (2011). 初中生家庭功能, 领悟社会支持和孤独感的关系研究, 河北师范大学硕士论文.
葛晓亮. (2011). 社会支持与大学生焦虑水平相关的研究. 科教导刊, (29), 153-154.
巩金培, 张琰, 王俊峰, 张澜. (2011). 领悟社会支持及应对方式对县处级干部亚健康的研究. 中国健康心理学杂志, 19(3), 310-312.
郝志红. (2009). 寻求专业性心理帮助的预测模型与干预实验, 天津师范大学博士论文.
何心展, 尤海燕. (2006). 大学生家庭亲密度和适应性与领悟社会支持关系的研究. 中国康复理论与实践, 12(7), 634-636.
胡芳芳. (2012). 流动儿童歧视知觉与心理适应的关系及其影响机制研究, 安徽师范大学硕士论文.
黄凌谊, 罗莉华. (2013). 残疾人自我效能感, 应对方式与心理健康. 中国健康心理学杂志, 21(7), 1029-1031.
霍艳青. (2009). 五年制高职生自我同一性特点及其与社会支持的关系研究, 山东师范大学硕士论文.
蒋红, 宋玉美, 张澜. (2011). 一般自我效能感与社会支持对中学生主观幸福感的影响. 兵团教育学院学报, 21(5), 75-78
雷璇, 晋京, 张澜. (2011). 医学生人格, 社会支持与信赖他人的相关研究. 现代预防医学, 38(3), 501-503.
李丹丹. (2009). 高等职业院校大学生主观幸福感与社会支持的关系研究, 东北师范大学硕士论文.
李金钊. (2003). 上海市中学生的心理压力与心理健康的关系研究, 华东师范大学硕士论文.
李晓华. (2012). 高中艺术生领悟社会支持与心理健康的相关研究——以甘肃省庆阳市 5 所高中的艺术生为例. 卫生职业教育, 30(4), 118-120.
李妍君, 赵姗, 苗元江. (2010). 大学生社会支持, 社交自尊与孤独感的关系. 新余高专学报, 15(4), 110-112.
李卓. (2010). 高三学生考前心理压力影响因素研究及其与考试成绩的关系, 第四军医大学硕士论文.
连伟利. (2009). 留守初中生领悟社会支持与主观幸福感的关系研究, 西南大学硕士论文.
刘剑虹, 贺豪振, 单文萍. (2011). 民营企业家子女的领悟社会支持与生活满意度调查. 浙江社会科学, (12), 141-148.
刘明兰, 陈旭. (2013). 高职生自我和谐, 领悟社会支持与心理健康之间的关系研究. 贵州师范大学学报: 自然科学版, 31(4), 13-17.
刘婷婷. (2009). 自考生家庭环境, 自我接纳与领悟社会支持的关系研究, 曲阜师范大学硕士论文.
刘艳, 彭昭宣, 陈建. (2009). 在校大学生社会支持度及社会功能状况调查. 内蒙古中医药, (12), 84-85.
刘媛. (2007). 单亲大学生人格及心理因素的调查与分析, 大连医科大学硕士论文.
罗小婧. (2012). 社会支持对抑郁的影响: 预先应对和积极情绪的中介作用, 首都师范大学硕士论文.
马青. (2011). 高中生社会支持, 心理控制源与主观幸福感的关系, 山东师范大学硕士论文.
孟祥伟. (2012). 硕士研究生核心自我评价, 领悟社会支持与学业倦怠的关系研究, 西南大学硕士论文.
牛英. (2013). 农村留守儿童领悟社会支持和心理弹性的关系. 社会心理科学, (9), 49-52.
邱鸿钟, 吴志雄. (2013). 大学新生社会支持与学校适应的相关性. 中国健康心理学杂志, 21(9), 1412-1413.
沈建丹. (2012). 高校学生领悟社会支持与幸福感的关系研究, 苏州大学硕士论文.
谭淑新, 盖海红, 张秀娥等. (2006). 高职大学生的社会支持与心理健康的关系. 中国健康心理学杂志, 14(3), 268-270.
唐婉. (2011). 留守初中生亲社会行为与领悟社会支持的关系研究, 福建师范大学硕士论文.
田园. (2011). 研究生人际信任, 领悟社会支持与亲社会行为倾向的关系研究, 杭州师范大学硕士论文.
王洪伟. (2012). 大学生自我同一性, 社会支持与主观幸福感的关系研究, 河北师范大学硕士论文.
王希娟. (2009). 2008 级延期高考录取新生 PTSD 及其与社会支持, 应对方式的调查与研究, 西北师范大学硕士论文.
王兴梅, 黄园媛, 王庆. (2011). 藏族学生控制源, 社会支持与心理健康的研究. 社会心理科学, 26(10), 85-88.
王颖宏. (2011). 大学生自我接纳, 领悟社会支持, 社交回避和苦恼的关系研究, 河北师范大学硕士论文.
韦耀阳. (2005). 高中生人际信任, 社会支持与孤独感关系的研究. 菏泽学院学报, 27(2), 79-82.
徐浩岚, 戴艳, 雷鸣(2009). 贫困大学生领悟社会支持与心理复原力的关系分析. 中国学校卫生, 30(7), 650-651.
颜桂梅. (2008). 高中生和谐人际关系, 领悟社会支持与自我效能感的关系研究, 福建师范大学硕士论文.
杨文娇, 赵甫涛, 李燕巧. (2011). 大学生家庭功能, 孤独感与领悟社会支持的关系. 中国健康心理学杂志, 19(12), 1501-1502.
姚晓琳, 刘洪, 郭成. (2010). 大学生领悟社会支持与社交自尊的关系. 中国学校卫生, 31(11), 1332-1334.
殷炜珍, 官永雄. (2013). 高考生社会支持与焦虑的关系: 自我效能的中介作用. 中国健康心理学杂志, (4), 621-623.
张爱萍. (2011). 新疆少数民族大学生领悟社会支持与应对方式的相关研究. 新疆大学学报: 哲学. 人文社会科学版, 39(1), 93-97.
张春艳, 左丹. (2009). 大学新生领悟社会支持与创伤后应激障碍的关系研究.中国健康心理学杂志, (10), 1223-1225.
张洪霞. (2010). 农村初中生自尊, 社会支持与主观幸福感的相关研究, 聊城大学硕士论文.
张静. (2012). 高中生社会支持, 学业自我效能感与学习倦怠的关系研究, 山西师范大学硕士论文.
张静敏. (2012). 大学生自尊, 领悟社会支持与人际信任的关系研究, 河北师范大学硕士论文.
张伟, 李娉. (2013). 大学生领悟社会支持与应对方式的相关研究. 兵团教育学院学报, (4), 64-68.
张玉芳. (2011). 体育院校大学新生生涯规划与社会支持, 人格特质的关系研究, 武汉体育学院硕士论文.
张忠琼, 班永飞, 殷红敏. (2011). 欠发达地区贫困大学生心理健康与应对方式, 社会支持的调查研究. 中国健康心理学杂志, 19(7), 868-870.L*赵阿勐. (2011). 中英两地老年人主观幸福感与社会支持的比较. 中国老年学杂志, 31(19), 3787-3990.
赵娟. (2011). 大学生内外控, 领悟社会支持与学校适应的关系, 广州大学硕士论文.
周立. (2010). 大学生职业决策自我效能实现过程中的社会支持研究, 西南大学硕士论文.
范美琴. (2009). 社会支持研究述评. 职教通讯: 江苏技术师范学院学报, 24(3), 95-99.
宋佳萌, 范会勇. (2013). 社会支持与主观幸福感关系的元分析. 心理科学进展, 21(008), 1357-1370.
汪向东, 王希林, 马弘. (1999). 心理卫生评定量表; 中国心理卫生杂志增刊. 中国心理卫生杂志社, 131-133.
辛自强, 周正. (2012). 大学生人际信任变迁的横断历史研究. 心理科学进展,20(3), 344-353.
叶宝娟, 温忠麟, 胡竹菁. (2013). 单维测验合成信度元分析. 心理科学, 6, 1464-1469.
[1] XIE Heping, WANG Yanqing, WANG Fuxing, ZHOU Zongkui, DENG Sue, DUAN Zhaohui. Generative Drawing Effect in Memory and Its Boundary Conditions: A Meta-analysis [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2024, 40(1): 29-43.
[2] NIU Xiang, RAN Guangming. The Association between Peer Relationship and Preschoolers' Problem Behavior: A Three-level Meta-analysis [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2023, 39(4): 473-487.
[3] CHENG Yangchun, HUANG Jin. Association between the Approximate Number System and Mathematical Competence: A Meta-analysis [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2023, 39(3): 379-390.
[4] LI Xingkai, WU Junsheng, YAO Xiaotong, LIU Yingshan, REN Jie, CHEN Suiqing. The Relationship between Autistic and Intellectual Disabled Children's Behavior Problems and Parental Anxiety: The Mediating Role of Parenting Stress and the Moderating Role of Perceived Social Support [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2023, 39(1): 77-84.
[5] GAO Feng, BAI Xuejun, ZHANG Peng, CAO Haibo. A Meta-analysis of the Relationship between Parenting Styles and Suicidal Ideation in Chinese Adolescents [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2023, 39(1): 97-108.
[6] XIE Yuntian, SHI Zifu, YIN Lin, LAN Luo. A Meta-analysis of the Relationships between Chinese Parenting Styles and Children’s Academic Achievement [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2022, 38(3): 366-379.
[7] BAI Rong, YAN Rong, WANG Qian, LI Ye, XING Shufen. The Relationships between Executive Functions and Problem Behavior: Situational Specificity and Gender Differences [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2022, 38(1): 35-44.
[8] SHI Guochun, ZHAO Dongyan, FAN Huiyong. Changes in College Students' Physical Self-esteem in 2004~2016: A Cross-temporal Meta-analysis [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2021, 37(5): 648-659.
[9] NIU Kaining, LI Mei, ZHANG Xiangkui. The Relationship Between Adolescents' Friendship Quality and Subjective Well-being: A Meta-analysis [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2021, 37(3): 407-418.
[10] YAN Zhiqiang, SU Yanjie. Difference between Cognitive Empathy and Affective Empathy in Development: Meta-analysis Preliminary Exploration [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2021, 37(1): 1-9.
[11] WANG Su, GAI Xiaosong. Development Trends and Gender Differences of Cool and Hot Self-regulation for Children Aged 3~4—A Longitudinal Study [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2020, 36(6): 641-648.
[12] XIN Sufei, YUE Yangming, XIN Ziqiang. A Cross-temporal Meta-analysis of Changes in Chinese Old People's Mental Health During 1996—2016 [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2020, 36(6): 753-761.
[13] JIN Tonglin, WU Yuntena, ZHANG Lu, YANG Xue, JIA Yanru, YANG Hong. The Effect of Perceived Chronic Social Adversity on Aggression of College Students: The Roles of Ruminative Responses and Perceived Social Support [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2020, 36(4): 414-421.
[14] LEI Lili, RAN Guangming, ZHANG Qi, MI Qianwen, CHEN Xu. The Associations between Parenting Styles and Anxiety in Preschool-age Children: A Three-level Meta-analysis [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2020, 36(3): 329-340.
[15] ZHOU Li, WANG Fuxing, XIE Heping, CHEN Jiaxue, XIN Liang, ZHAO Qingbai. Does Emotional Design in Multimedia Learning Facilitate Learning? A Meta-analysis [J]. Psychological Development and Education, 2019, 35(6): 697-709.
Viewed
Full text


Abstract

Cited

  Shared   
  Discussed   
No Suggested Reading articles found!