Examining the Relationship of Positive and Negative Social Support with Depression Severity in a U.S. Military Sample

Depression is associated with job fatigue, social isolation, and suicide risk in US service members and veterans (SM/Vs). Risk for depression is particularly heightened among male SM/Vs relative to civilians, impacting 23% and 6%, respectively. Research suggests social support may protect SM/Vs from depressive symptoms, but most studies focus on positive social support (PSS). Negative social support (NSS) could be more impactful on depressive symptoms than positive support; however, this has not been examined in military samples. Given heightened risk for depression in SM/Vs, it is critical to better understand these associations. The present study addressed this literature gap in a convenience sample (N=508) of male SM/Vs. Participants completed measures of depression, PSS, NSS, and a demographic questionnaire. A correlation comparison calculation was used to compare the strength of bivariate associations of PSS and NSS with depression. Linear regression was employed to test the simultaneous effects of PSS and NSS as correlates of depression after accounting for age, race, and marital status. The association of NSS and depression was statistically stronger than the association of PSS and depression (t[301]=-11.55, p<0.05). Linear regression revealed that higher NSS (partial r=.40, p<.001) was positively associated with depression and high PSS (partial r=-.32, p<.001) was negatively associated with depression with medium-to-large effect sizes after accounting for covariates. Decreasing the frequency of negative social support may reduce depression in men SM/Vs. Findings also suggest the utility of focusing studies on both dimensions of social support in place of focusing on positive elements of social support.