Social support and mental health among university students with hearing impairment: A moderated mediation model.

Social support had a positive relationship with mental health among university students with hearing impairment.

• Study sample consisted of 470 hearing-impaired university students who completed questionnaires.
• The direct positive relationship between social support and mental health was established as a primary finding.
• The study used a moderated mediation model to examine the influencing mechanisms of this relationship.

Adaptation mediated the relationship between social support and mental health, accounting for 51.2% of the total effect.

• Adaptation served as a significant mediating variable in the social support–mental health relationship.
• The mediation effect of adaptation accounted for 51.2% of the total effect of social support on mental health.
• This suggests that more than half of the influence of social support on mental health operates through the mechanism of adaptation.

Disability duration moderated the relationship between social support and adaptation.

• The moderating effect of disability duration was specifically on the social support–adaptation pathway, not directly on mental health.
• The beneficial effect of social support on adaptation was more significant among students with disability durations over 10 years compared to those with disability durations below 10 years.
• This moderated mediation indicates that the indirect pathway from social support to mental health via adaptation differs based on how long a student has had hearing impairment.

The authors recommend targeted social support and adaptation interventions to enhance mental health among hearing-impaired university students.

• Findings suggest that interventions should be tailored based on disability duration, given the differential moderating effects observed.
• Both social support and adaptation were identified as important targets for intervention.
• The study highlights the importance of addressing adaptation as a mechanism through which social support improves mental health in this population.