Social support has been shown to buffer the relationship between life stress and psychological distress in late life. However, little attention has been paid to personality variables that are associated with the capacity to effectively utilize social support. Although the buffering effects of social support were replicated in our sample of 134…

This empirical study investigated three mechanisms of protection (preventive, compensatory, buffering) for two factors (emotional social support, sense of personal control) in the relationship between exposure to community violence and psychological distress among 947 diverse, older adolescents. Findings indicate that social support and sense of…