Social support → Depression
Higher social support decreases depression.
A scoping review found that 19 of 23 studies in adults tied more social support to fewer depressive symptoms, and 24 of 29 studies in pregnancy tied low support to more postpartum depressive symptoms.
Review · Moderate · N=66
The two move together in observational data. Nobody has yet tested whether one causes the other.
Mechanism
The review does not set out a pathway.
Caveats
This is one scoping review that counts studies and gives no pooled effect size. It covers adults other than pregnant women, and, separately, pregnant women. Depressed people may also draw less support, so the link does not show that support lowers depression.
Effect
83% of 23 adult studies and 83% of 29 pregnancy studies pointed the same way; no pooled effect size.
Nodes
Named confounders
Cite this page
What Causes What. “Social support → Depression.” https://whatcauseswhat.org/edges/e-social-support-depression (atlas updated 2026-10-17).
https://whatcauseswhat.org/edges/e-social-support-depression
Papers
- Social connectedness as a determinant of mental health: A scoping review.
PJ Wickramaratne, T Yangchen, L Lepow, BG Patra, B Glicksburg, A Talati, P Adekkanattu, E Ryu · 2022 · PloS one
pregnant women