Apoio Social, Coping e Suas Repercussões no Humor Depressivo

Abstract

This study is the result of a research about the following subjects: social support, coping and depressive symptomatology. In the first part, bibliographical review is presented about the proposed themes. The second part constitutes of a scientific article, to be submitted for evaluation by the Editorial Counsel of the journal Psychology : Reflexão e Crítica , which contemplates empirical research with the intention of describing and understanding social support, coping and its repercussions in depressive symptomatology . The research was carried out with 205 students, with their ages ranging from 17 to 58, with 85,4% being women; 89,4% single, 47,0% living with their parents and 31,4% having an income superior to R$ 10.000 a month. The Moos scales of social support, the Coping Response Inventory Adult Form (CRIA) and the Beck depression inventory (BDI) were applied. To evaluate the results, the statistical package SPSS version 12.0 was used. The results show that social support, seen as a coping resource, also protects mental health. Approach strategies protect mental health protectors, as opposed to avoidance strategies, which provoke the development of depressive symptoms.