How social support impacts depression in Chinese emerging adults: mediators of cognitive reappraisal and loneliness

Abstract

Background Emerging adulthood marks a crucial maturation from teenage years to independent adulthood, which makes them more susceptible to depression. Prior studies have indicated that social support negatively impacts depression among emerging adults. However, little research has explored the mediating mechanisms. Methods This research investigated the potential effectiveness of social support in mitigating depression through emotion regulation strategies and loneliness as mediators in 998 college students (M = 19.18, SD = 1.99). Data analyses were conducted using SPSS version 23.0 and PROCESS version 3.3. Both correlational and mediation analyses were performed to examine the study’s hypotheses. Results Correlational analyses revealed that PSS was negatively associated with both loneliness and depression, and positively associated with cognitive reappraisal. Mediation analysis indicated that the direct effect of PSS on depression became non-significant (β = −0.06, p > 0.05) after accounting for mediating variables, confirming a full mediation model. The final model explained 47% of the variance in depression (R2 = 0.47, F = 148.21, p < 0.001). Bootstrap analysis identified three significant indirect pathways: (1) PSS → cognitive reappraisal → depression [indirect effect = 0.13, 95% CI (−0.17, −0.09)]; (2) PSS → loneliness → depression [indirect effect = 0.16, 95% CI (−0.21, −0.12)]; and (3) the serial pathway PSS → cognitive reappraisal → loneliness → depression [indirect effect = 0.04, 95% CI (−0.07, −0.02)]. The pathway through loneliness exhibited the strongest indirect effect. These further demonstrated that the overall impact of perceived social support on depression was fully mediated by these two variables because expressive suppression did not appear as a substantial mediator. Conclusion The findings suggest that perceived social support reduces depressive symptoms primarily by facilitating the use of cognitive reappraisal and alleviating loneliness. These results underscore the critical role of social support systems in mental health and highlight the importance of fostering adaptive emotion regulation strategies.