Apoyo social, integración social y salud mental

Abstract

Social support has become an increasingly popular concept and a very useful research tool for studying psychosocial factors in relation to mental health. Despite a large literature demonstrating the positive association between social support and psychological well-being, important problems exist around social support concept. First, there is disagreement regarding its definition. Second, there is controversy about processes through which social support is associated with mental health. These debates can be summarized in two rival hypotheses: main effect model and buffering effect model. The present paper tries to clarify this issue by introducing the concept of social integration which was elaborated by Emile Durkheim in his sociological work. The paper tries to emphasize the possible role of anomia in psychological distress. Implications of this analysis for theories of social support processes and relationship between social support and mental health are discussed.