The relationship among perceived social support, psychological distress, childhood sexual abuse, and irritable bowel syndrome

This study investigated the relationship among perceived social support, childhood sexual abuse and psychological functioning in Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Two populations of individuals with IBS participated in this study. The first IBS group was 59 IBS patients recruited as part of a study on the effects of group therapy on IBS. In addition, 51 individuals without gastrointestinal symptoms, recruited from the community, acted as a comparison group for these IBS patients. The second IBS group was drawn from 823 undergraduate students. Based on a gastrointestinal problems questionnaire, 21.7% (n = 178) of the undergraduate students were diagnosed as having IBS. Students with IBS were further divided into two sub-groups: (1) 68 IBS patients (38%)—those who have sought medical treatment for this problem; (2) 110 IBS non-patients (62%)—those who have never sought medical treatment for this disorder. There were two comparison groups for the students with IBS: (3) 287 (34.9%) students who experienced GI problems, but who did not meet criteria for IBS and (4) 317 (38.5%) students who did not experience significant GI symptoms. All subjects were given questionnaires that gathered information on GI symptoms, psychological functioning, childhood sexual abuse, perceived social support and stressful events. Overall, it was found that individuals with IBS did not have significantly less perceived social support than those without the disorder and that IBS patients did not differ from IBS non-patients on this variable. However, there was some evidence that IBS has an impact on perceived social support from friends, at least in those who have had the disorder for a long time. Also, in the absence of sexual abuse, IBS did have a small effect on social support. There was no support found for the stress-buffering model of social support, but there was some evidence for social support having a direct effect on psychological, but not gastrointestinal, distress. These variables, psychological and gastrointestinal distress, were found to be weakly correlated. Finally, the relationship between social support and psychological distress was moderated by the presence of childhood sexual abuse in some individuals with IBS.