Stress and social support in mental and physical health of Chinese students in Japan

This study examined the influence of stress and social support on mental and physical health and happiness of 175 Chinese students enrolled in 13 Japanese universities. Needed support accounted for only 10% of the variance in reported stress, indicating that the relation between the two variables was not strong and they were generally independent. With greater scores on stress or needed support and lower scores on perceived or received support, depression and somatic complaints become more severe. The higher the scores on perceived or received support, the higher the reported happiness. Both perceived and received support showed a buffering effect on somatic complaints. Finally, stress and needed support had an interesting interaction, indicating that only among students reporting more stress did students who experienced greater need for support report more severe depression than those who experienced less need for support.