An Empirical Assessment of the Independent Effect of Social Support on Flourishing Mental Health Among Adult Canadians: Results from a Large Representative National Sample

Background and purpose: The concept of flourishing has been receiving increasing research attention in the last two decades (Keyes, 2002; Seligman, 2012). Some scholars have maintained that flourishing is multifaceted consisting of emotional, social, and psychological well-being (Diener et al., 2010; Keyes, 2013). A burgeoning amount of research using cross-sectional and longitudinal design have also found that individuals with flourishing mental health are likely to report lower symptoms of depression and conduct problems, less likely to experience comorbid mental illness and substance use, and less likely to die from all-cause mortality (Keyes & Simoes, 2012). The extant literature has also found social support decrease the adverse impact of mental health problems and improve overall quality of life (Baiden et al., 2016). Notwithstanding the growing interest in flourishing, there is a dearth in the number of studies that have empirically examined the prevalence and predictors of flourishing among Canadians. Thus, using data from the 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey-Mental Health (CCHS-MH), the objective of this paper is to examine the prevalence and predictors of flourishing in a sample of adult Canadians. This study also seeks to examine the independent effect of social support on flourishing.

Methods: This study used data from the 2012 CCHS-MH public use microdata files provided by Statistics Canada. A sample of 19,352 respondents with complete data on all variables was analyzed. The outcome variable examined was flourishing and was measured as a binary variable. The main explanatory variable examined was social support and was measured as a continuous variable using the revised Social Provision Scale which is a 10-item standardized instrument. The study also controlled for demographic, socioeconomic, health, and mental health factors. Binary logistic regression was conducted to examine the independent predictive effect of social support on flourishing.

Results

The study found that of the 19,352 respondents, 76.9% were flourishing. Results from the binary logistic regression revealed that social support had an independent effect on flourishing. The odds of flourishing were predicted to increase by a factor of 4.81 for each additional unit increase in social support, net the effect of demographic, socioeconomic, health, mental health, suicidal ideation, and history of child maltreatment (AOR=4.81, p<.001, 95% CI=4.24-5.45). Other factors associated with flourishing include: older age, being married, absence of health and mental health problems, not having suicidal ideation, no pain, and no history of child maltreatment. All the predictors explained 19.35% of the variance in flourishing and social support explained more than a-third of this variance.

Conclusions and Implications: More than a third of Canadians seems to be flourishing. Whereas past studies on flourishing have been limited to examination of marital status and socioeconomic factors, the findings of this study offer new empirical evidence on the association between social support and flourishing, beyond well-known factors. Social support represents an important resource in the course of coping for individuals with stressful life events. Thus, social workers should routinely monitor the support needs of clients and ask whether clients maintain a positive perception of happiness and life satisfaction.