Men and Women as Differential Social Barometers: Gender Effects of Perceived Friend Support on the Neuroticism-Loneliness-Well-Being Relationship in a Younger Adult Population

Julie Turber-Cobb, Emily Arden-Close, Emma Portch, Liam Wignall

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Loneliness and social isolation are well known to have detrimental effects on mental and physical health, and the perception of social support is frequently viewed as a protective factor. Yet, the beneficial effect varies when perceived support is considered with respect to gender and personality. We examined the mechanism of loneliness as a mediator of personality on health and moderation of this relationship by perceived social support and gender. Five hundred and thirty young adults (325 women) aged 18–32 years (Mage = 25.42, SD = 4.13) provided self-report assessments of personality, loneliness, perceived social support, general health and psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on well-being. Using a series of regression-based mediation and moderated mediation models, we found higher scores on extraversion to be associated with lower loneliness and better general health and well-being; higher neuroticism with greater loneliness and poorer general health. Being male and perceiving greater friend support moderated the neuroticism–loneliness–well-being relationship. Men higher on neuroticism were less able to benefit from lower loneliness when the perception of support from friends was greater, yet were less sensitive to the negative impact on the well-being of perceiving low levels of friend support. Effects suggest important gender differences with the potential to inform health interventions.
Original languageEnglish
Article number7986
Number of pages15
JournalInternational journal of environmental research and public health
Volume19
Issue number13
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 29 Jun 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Funding: This research received no external funding. Financial support for this project was provided by allocation of internal quality-related (QR) research funding from the Department of Psychology at Bournemouth University (project code 32213). The APC was funded by Bournemouth University.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Keywords

  • loneliness
  • social relationships
  • personality
  • neuroticism
  • health
  • well-being
  • gender
  • pandemic
  • covid-19
  • COVID-19

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