Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42222258›Full record

ArticlePsychosocial intervention2026

The Stress-Buffering Effect of Social Support on Socio-Economic Disparities in Mental Health among Cancer Survivors.

Dafina Petrova, Daniel Redondo-Sánchez, Blanca Madrid Pérez-Esparza, Pablo Fernández-Navarro, Mitti Blakoe, Raquel Luque Caro, Maria-José Sánchez

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Psychosocial intervention, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Dafina PetrovaInstituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs.GRANADA Granada Spain Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs.GRANADA, Granada, Spain.
Daniel Redondo-SánchezInstituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs.GRANADA Granada Spain Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs.GRANADA, Granada, Spain.
Blanca Madrid Pérez-EsparzaInstituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs.GRANADA Granada Spain Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs.GRANADA, Granada, Spain.
Pablo Fernández-NavarroCIBER de Epidemiología y Salud Pública Madrid Spain CIBER de Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain.
Mitti BlakoeUniversity of Copenhagen Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Copenhagen Denmark Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Raquel Luque CaroInstituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs.GRANADA Granada Spain Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs.GRANADA, Granada, Spain.
Maria-José SánchezInstituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs.GRANADA Granada Spain Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs.GRANADA, Granada, Spain.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundLow socio-economic status (SES) is considered a major chronic stressor and is frequently associated with worse mental health among cancer survivors. We investigated the extent to which social support could mitigate the negative impact of low SES on the mental health of individuals with a history of cancer.

methodParticipants were cancer survivors identified in two nationally representative surveys conducted in Spain in 2017 (n = 1,143) and 2023 (n = 980). SES was measured with the social class index of the Spanish Society of Epidemiology. Social support was measured with the Duke-UNC questionnaire and the Oslo Social Support Scale. Mental health outcomes included psychological distress (General Health Questionnaire-12), mental well-being (WHO-5 Index), and depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-8). The moderating role of social support was examined in a multiple regression framework, complemented by generalized additive models to capture potential non-linear effects.

resultsMental health vulnerability was highest among individuals with low levels of social support, where no SES-related differences were observed. Under medium social support, low SES was linked to higher psychological distress (B = 0.24, 95% confidence intervals, CI [0.05, 0.42]), lower mental well-being (B = -6.08 [-1.98, -10.18]), and higher rates of depression (OR = 2.78 [1.52, 5.00]). High social support buffered this effect, improving mental health among cancer survivors with low SES and reducing SES differences. Sub-group analyses revealed that this buffering effect was less evident among women, for whom inequalities persisted regardless of social support levels. DISCUSSION: High social support consistently attenuated SES disparities across three different mental health outcomes, albeit less effectively among women.

Indexed as

Cancer SurvivorsMental HealthPsychological DistressSocial ClassSocial SupportStress, PsychologicalAdultAgedDepressionFemaleHumansLow Socioeconomic StatusMaleMiddle AgedPsychological Well-BeingSocioeconomic Disparities in HealthBuffering effectCancer survivalDepressionHealth disparitiesMental healthPsychological distressSocial supportSocio-economic status

Identifiers

PMID42222258
PMCPMC13216956

What Socratic holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.