Heike Krüger, Thomas Grund, Srebrenka Letina, Emily Long, Julie Riddell, Claudia Zucca, Mark McCannPlease use the format "First name initials family name" as in "Marie S. Curie, Niels H. D. Bohr, Albert Einstein, John R. R. Tolkien, Donna T. Strickland"
<p>Objective: Prior research in the area of social support suggests that it is an important influential factor of mental health. Yet, it often remains unclear how much overlap there is between provided support, the perceived availability of support resources, and the factors that account for discrepancies. Mental health disorders tend to produce and are maintained by distorted perceptions of the social environment. Depressive symptoms, in particular, are associated with increasingly negative thought processes and evaluations of social relationships and interactions. Consequently, the present study seeks to identify the discrepancies in the perceptions between givers and receivers of support. We aim to assess the extent to which the individual attributes of mental health, loneliness, and gender are related to discrepancies in support provision. </p>
<p>Method: In order to examine the research question, two school surveys will be utilized. First, we investigate dual-perspective networks of more than 3000 adolescents at 37 schools in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, using the second wave of the SOCIALBOND study. The analysis is based on sociocentric network data from adolescents in the eighth grade, distinguishing between the nominations of adolescents who provide support and those who receive emotional support at the grade level. The analyses will be replicated using two cohorts of the Net4health pilot study. The aim is to conduct the analyses in diverse national contexts and for distinct mental health outcomes.</p>
<p>Results: The preliminary findings based on the SOCIALBOND study indicate that there is a substantial amount of mismatch in individuals' perception of support relationships. Nevertheless, mental health and loneliness do not emerge as significant influential factors of discrepancies. In contrast, there is evidence for gender differences in misperceptions. Support provision is more likely to stay unnoticed when the provider is a young man, and young men are more likely to perceive support that was not intended.</p>
dual-perspective networks, social support, mental health, loneliness, perception bias, social network analysis
