The current study focused on those who had recently experienced a relationship breakup, which add extra stressors to college students who have already suffered from negative influences of COVID-19. Social support could act as a coping resource to alleviate the negative consequences of breakup and COVID-19 on mental health. Although social support has long been found to have a protective role on mental health, several studies indicated that social support could have differential effects, and even harmful effects on people with high negative emotionality. To understand the roles social support play, we used a longitudinal design to study potential moderators (negative emotionality [or neuroticism] and gender) in the relationship between social support and depression. For students who experienced a relational disruption, our research questions were (1) what are the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between social support and depression before and during COVID-19, and (2) are these relationships moderated by negative emotionality and gender? Participants 361 students ( M age = 23.3, 64% female) from Argentina and the USA who had experienced recent relationship breakups. Participants completed pre-pandemic questionnaires, and were followed up on depression level six months later, after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results indicated that social support and negative emotionality were significantly related to concurrent depression. Pre-pandemic social support showed a weak correlation with depression levels during COVID-19. Negative emotionality and gender were not significant moderators in both the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations. Results supported the concurrent effects of social support on depression and indicated the potential value of targeting social support during COVID-19. The study also offered several directions for future research.

中文翻译：

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分手后社会支持有用吗？COVID-19期间大学生社会支持、抑郁、情绪波动和性别的调节模型

目前的研究重点是那些最近经历过感情破裂的人，这给已经受到 COVID-19 负面影响的大学生增加了额外的压力。社会支持可以作为一种应对资源，以减轻分手和 COVID-19 对心理健康的负面影响。尽管长期以来人们发现社会支持对心理健康具有保护作用，但一些研究表明，社会支持可能会产生不同的影响，甚至对高度消极情绪的人产生有害影响。为了了解社会支持所发挥的作用，我们采用纵向设计来研究社会支持与抑郁之间关系的潜在调节因素（负面情绪[或神经质]和性别）。对于经历过关系中断的学生，我们的研究问题是（1）在 COVID-19 之前和期间，社会支持与抑郁之间的横向和纵向关联是什么；（2）这些关系是否受到负面情绪和性别的调节？参加者 361 名学生（男年龄= 23.3，64% 女性）来自阿根廷和美国，最近经历过感情破裂。参与者完成了大流行前的调查问卷，并在 COVID-19 大流行爆发六个月后对抑郁水平进行了随访。结果表明，社会支持和消极情绪与并发抑郁显着相关。大流行前的社会支持与 COVID-19 期间的抑郁水平呈弱相关。消极情绪和性别在横向和纵向关联中都不是显着的调节因素。结果支持了社会支持对抑郁症的同时影响，并表明了在 COVID-19 期间瞄准社会支持的潜在价值。该研究还为未来的研究提供了几个方向。