Negative Life Events and Mental Health Among Old Age People: Moderating Role of Social Support

Challenges related to physical and mental wellness increased with agedness among individuals. Psychological snags among older people might be resultant of the augmented possibility of being encountered to distressing life situations. Present study was done to find out whether social support moderates the path that links detrimental incidents in life to mental wellbeing amongst elder persons. Participants of the study were 100 (50 men & 50 women) old people who responded on Negative Life Event Scale (Wills, McNamara, Vaccaro, & Hirky, 1996), Mental Health Inventory (Veit & Ware, 1983), and Social Support Scale (Cohen & Hoberman, 1983) and approached through convenience sampling technique. Relationship was measured by utilizing Pearson product moment correlation coefficient while moderating effects of social support in linking negative events to mental health (i.e., psychological distress & psychological wellbeing) was assessed through hierarchical regression. Findings indicate positive relationship of negative life events with psychological distress whereas negative relationship with psychological wellbeing and social support. Moreover it is evident that help one received from community networks moderates interrelationship of deleterious life events and mental health (reduction in psychological distress while enhancing psychological wellbeing). Results propose to work to evolve intervention as well as prevention programs for old people that focused on coping with negative life events which resultantly enhance mental health in old age.