Provision of social support and mental health in U.S. military veterans:Results from the National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study

While social support has been linked to better health, most research has focused on the receipt of social support. In this study, we evaluated associations between provided support and mental health in a nationally representative cohort of 4,069 US veterans. The majority (60-72%) of veterans reported providing support consistently. Veterans who scored higher on aspects of personality (i.e., agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability) and received support were more likely to provide support. Further, each standard deviation increase in provided support was independently associated with 15-40% reduced odds of internalizing psychiatric disorders and suicidality, and veterans who scored higher on both provided and received support had 3.5- to 14-fold lower odds of these outcomes relative to those with high received support but low provided support. Results suggest that separate from the receipt of social support, the provision of support may be a potential pathway to mitigate adverse mental health conditions.