Associations between Social Support and Well-being during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Bidirectional or Unidirectional?

Live Poster Session: Zoom Link

Ransho Ueno
Ransho Ueno

Ransho Ueno is a sophomore (’23) from Tokyo, Japan. She is double majoring in Science in Society Program and Government with a minor in Applied Data Analysis. She is passionate about decreasing health disparities across the world through the lenses of public policies, and her research interests include social determinants of health along with how technology would improve one’s access to healthcare. In the SPA lab, she looks forward to examining how intersectional identities affect sleeping patterns and how it relates to physical and psychosocial health. After Wes, she plans to pursue the graduate program in health policy. In her free time, she loves to cook (of course to eat too), watch Netflix, and talk to people!

Rachel Cetron
Rachel Cetron

Rachel Cetron is a junior (’22) Psychology and Science and Society double major from Atlanta, Georgia. She is passionate about working with children and has research interests in developmental psychology, serving underrepresented communities/public health, and clinical deaf psychology. After Wes Rachel plans to go on to pursue a graduate degree and career in clinical psychology working with children who are hearing impaired. Outside of the lab, Rachel loves to cook, sign in ASL, and she is also a member of the Wesleyan Swimming and Diving Team!

Leah Seldin
Leah Seldin

Leah Seldin is a senior (’21) Psychology and Education Studies double major from Watchung, NJ. Next year, she will be completing Wesleyan’s BA/MA program in Psychology (’22) under Professor Dubar. Leah’s research interests are focused on student attributions of the college admissions process and psychosocial adjustment of university students. Outside of the lab, Leah is the treasurer for Wesleyan’s chapter of Psi Chi (International Honor Society in Psychology) and has held numerous executive positions in Wesleyan’s only sorority Rho Epsilon Pi. She enjoys good food and bad reality television. In the future, Leah plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology.

Genesis Garcia
Genesis Garcia

Genesis Garcia is a junior Psychology and English double major. They are motivated to improving access to mental health counseling in low income communities as well as destigmatizing therapy in communities of color. After Wesleyan, Genesis plans to pursue a graduate degree in clinical or counseling psychology. Outside of the lab, Genesis leads the campus Dominican Student Association and Caliente as well as the Cognitive Development lab. 

Amy Limtrajiti
Amy Limtrajiti

Satida (Amy) Limtrajiti is a sophomore from Lexington, Massachusetts and Bangkok, Thailand. She is majoring in Studio Art with a concentration in Painting and minoring in Data Analysis and Integrated Design, Engineering, and Applied Science with a Computer concentration. She is interested in combining art with quantitative fields and utilizing data analysis to further research, specifically in areas related to Psychology and the social sciences. In the SPA Lab, she looks forward to examining minority groups and their relationship with sleep and psychosocial wellbeing. In her free time, she loves making art, tinkering around, listening to music, and (occasionally) playing the piano.

The goal of the present study was to determine whether the nature of the association between social support and general well-being was unidirectional or bidirectional. Participants were N = 619 college students (65.4% female, 59.5% Non-Hispanic White), who participated in an online longitudinal survey study. Measures assessed two forms of perceived social support: friends and family. General well-being was based on 4 indices: general health, self-control, anxiety symptoms, and depressive symptoms. Results of an autoregressive cross-lagged model (controlling for socio-demographic factors) provided support for unidirectional associations, such that perceived social support at baseline predicted better subsequent well-being, but not vice versa. These findings have implications for practitioners and researchers for future interventions that may facilitate social support as a means to improve general health and well-being during a pandemic.

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