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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Psychology for Clinical Settings
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1483021

The association between perceived social support and self-management behaviors in adolescents and young adults with inflammatory bowel disease: the chain mediating role of basic psychological needs and anxiety/depression

Provisionally accepted
Yangfan Zhu Yangfan Zhu 1Yueyue Chen Yueyue Chen 2Yuman Tang Yuman Tang 1Xin Zhang Xin Zhang 1Qiao Shen Qiao Shen 1Fei Li Fei Li 1Hao Wang Hao Wang 3Xianlan Zheng Xianlan Zheng 1*
  • 1 Children‘s Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China
  • 2 Chongqing Institute of Foreign Studies, Chongqing, China
  • 3 Chongqing General Hospital, Chongqing, Chongqing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has been increasing, with adolescence and young adults being the peak age of onset. Self-management behaviors were demonstrated to enhance remission and quality of life, yet the mechanisms influencing self-management behaviors remained under-explored. Perceived social support is crucial to self-management behaviors, alongside the roles of basic psychological needs, anxiety, and depression. Therefore, we conducted a two-center cross-sectional survey in China from July to August 2024 via convenience and snowball sampling to investigate how these variables influence self-management behaviors. Data were collected utilizing the structured self-report questionnaires. Mediating effects were analyzed using the bootstrap method.A total of 183 adolescents and young adults with IBD (male: 71.58%), aged 13 to 24 years old (M = 20.33, SD = 3.03), were included in the analysis. The research findings include the following points:(1) perceived social support positively predicted self-management behaviors (β = 0.767, P < 0.001); (2) perceived social support affected self-management behaviors through chain mediation involving basic psychological needs and anxiety/depression. Clinical practitioners should enhance social support for adolescents and young adults with IBD and improve their perceptions of such support, fulfill basic psychological needs, and alleviate anxiety and depression to promote effective self-management behaviors.

    Keywords: inflammatory bowel disease, adolescents, young adults, self-management, social support, Anxiety, Depression

    Received: 19 Aug 2024; Accepted: 13 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Zhu, Chen, Tang, Zhang, Shen, Li, Wang and Zheng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Xianlan Zheng, Children‘s Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.