Association between perceived social support and strain, and positive and negative outcome for adults with mild intellectual disability.
Cutting social strain protects adults with mild ID from later depression, while adding support boosts their quality of life even if mood stays low.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Lunsky et al. (2001) followed adults with mild intellectual disability for six months. They asked how much social support and social strain each person felt. Then they tracked who got depressed, felt sick, or lost quality of life.
The team used simple surveys at start and end. No treatment was given. The goal was to see which social factor best predicts later problems.
What they found
Social strain won the race to bad outcomes. More strain now meant more depression and physical complaints six months later. Social support did not stop those ills.
Support still helped, just in a different lane. Adults who felt supported kept a higher quality of life, even if they still felt down or sick.
How this fits with other research
van Schrojenstein Lantman-de Valk et al. (2006) and Hove et al. (2016) later echoed the strain warning. They showed that specific events like bullying or loss trigger later depression in the same group. The 2001 paper had already flagged the broader idea: negative social experiences forecast mental-health slides.
Whitehouse et al. (2014) looked at the same two ingredients—support and stress—in a giant national set. They counted the numbers: each extra stressor raised mental-illness odds by 20%, while strong support cut the risk in half. The 2001 study had smaller scope but pointed to the same pattern first.
Hagopian et al. (2005) tested younger adults and found the bright side again. Social support, not stress, best predicted life satisfaction. Together these studies draw a clear map: strain drives illness, support lifts well-being, and both paths can run at the same time.
Why it matters
You can act on both levers. Screen for social strain at intake—ask who argues with the client, who puts them down, and how often. Work to reduce those contacts or teach escape skills. At the same time, build supportive ties: peer clubs, staff mentors, or weekly check-ins. You may not erase depression, but you can still raise day-to-day quality of life.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Social strain has been identified as a trigger for both depression and physical health problems, but has not been well researched in people with intellectual disability (ID). The present study contrasted the effects of social support with social strain on depressive symptoms, somatic complaints and quality of life over time in adults with mild ID. The level of social support explained a significant proportion of variance in quality of life 6 months later, but not depressive symptoms or somatic complaints. In contrast, the level of social strain accounted for a significant proportion of variance in depressive symptoms and somatic complaints 6 months later, but not quality of life. The results suggest that interpersonal relationships can be both positively and negatively associated with physical and mental health for people with ID.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2001 · doi:10.1046/j.1365-2788.2001.00334.x