International Journal of Caring Sciences (May 2023)
A Meta-Analysis of Informal and Formal Family Social Support Studies: Relationships with Parent and Family Psychological Health and Well-Being
Abstract
Background. Family social support from informal and formal social network members provide parents and other primary caregivers the time and psychological energy to carry out child-rearing responsibilities. Objective. Conduct a meta-analysis of family social support studies to evaluate the associations between informal and formal family social support and parent and family general health, depression, stress, and well- being. Method. Studies that used the Family Support Scale to measure informal and formal family support which included one or more scales measuring parents’ and other primary caregivers’ health and well-being were eligible for inclusion in the meta-analysis. The correlations between measures were used as the sizes of effect for the relationships between informal and formal family social support and four different health-related outcomes. Twenty-three studies including 26 independent samples of study participants (N = 2929) were included in the meta-analysis. Results. Informal family social support was related to all four outcome measures and formal family social support was related to 3 of the 4 outcome measures. The sizes of effect for the associations between measures were larger for informal compared to formal family social support. The relationships between both types of family social support and the outcome measures were also moderated by several child and parent background variables. Conclusion. Results showed that both informal and formal family social support were related to less negative and more positive parent and family psychological health and well-being.
