Social Psychology (Social Support and Cyberbullying)

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The Impact of Social Support on Psychological Well-Being
Introduction
Psychological well-being has been a topic of research for a long time because individuals who have higher psychological well-being live longer and healthier lives. It is defined as the combination of the state of emotional health and the ability of an individual to function optimally (Winefield et al., 2012). Many factors contribute to psychological well-being, such as autonomy, life purpose, perspective on financial standing, etc., but one of the commonly associated factors to an individual’s psychological well-being is social support. In this paper, the positive and negative impacts of social support on an individual’s psychological well-being will be discussed in detail.
Psychological Literature
Social Psychology Theories
Psychological well-being can also be referred to as the level of life satisfaction of an individual. However, when well-being is evaluated, there are mixed responses since happiness and satisfaction are highly variable from person to person. In psychology, a human person is viewed holistically with many components that need to be considered and fulfilled, and one of these is the social aspect of being human. The following theories that will be presented are concepts in psychology that deal with the relationship of an individual’s well-being to the social support from the community or environment that he/she is in.
A theory in social psychology is the social well-being theory. This theory is significant in this discussion because it emphasizes that well-being is assessing an individual’s standing and functioning in society. This theory highlights how social structures affect the level of well-being that an individual has. Some of the identified social challenges and/or tasks are social integration and social acceptance. These involve the quality of the relationships an individual has with other people in the community and how an individual meets the expectations or generalized categories of society (Lijadi, 2018).
Another psychological theory that is relevant to the discussion will be the self-determination theory. This theory talks about the natural tendency of humans to be competent in the challenges that they are faced with, and these experiences are integrated to create a coherent sense of self. This theory was later improved by adding the concept of happiness, which is considered a sign of well-being based on the theory. There are many exciting parts in this theory, but the most relevant in terms of psychological well-being and social support is continuous support from the social environment from where the individual is functioning. The social determination theory is highly associated with autonomy, competence, and relatedness (Lijadi, 2018). It gives importance to the effects of interpersonal relationships in supporting an individual to attain the desired level of psychological well-being and happiness.
Another relevant theory that explains the importance of social support in an individual’s psychological well-being is the attachment theory. It states that every individual has the natural tendency...