Qualitative Modeling of the Effect of Perceived Social Deprivation on Depressive Symptoms: The Mediating Role of Loneliness and the Moderating Role of Social Support

Abstract

This study aimed to develop an explanatory model of how perceived social deprivation contributes to the emergence and intensification of depressive symptoms, with particular emphasis on loneliness as an intervening mechanism and social support as a protective moderating condition among adults living in Tehran. This qualitative study was conducted using thematic analysis. The participants were 24 adults residing in Tehran who reported experiences of perceived social deprivation, loneliness, and depressive symptoms. Participants were recruited through purposive maximum-variation sampling based on gender, age, marital status, educational level, and employment status. Recruitment continued until theoretical and meaning saturation was achieved. Data were collected exclusively through individual semi-structured interviews lasting approximately 45–75 minutes. Following informed consent, the interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, anonymized, and imported into NVivo. Data analysis involved repeated familiarization with the transcripts, initial coding, constant comparison of codes, organization of related codes into preliminary categories, refinement of category boundaries, and development of an integrated explanatory model. Credibility was enhanced through prolonged engagement with the data, peer review of coding decisions, participant checking of selected interpretations, and maintenance of an audit trail. Five main categories were identified: “accumulated experiences of exclusion and social invisibility,” “loneliness as the internalization of social deprivation,” “erosion of self-worth and expansion of depressive symptoms,” “social support as a conditional protective buffer,” and “the self-reinforcing cycle of deprivation, loneliness, and depression.” Perceived social deprivation became psychologically harmful when participants interpreted restricted opportunities, exclusion, unequal treatment, or unresponsive relationships as evidence that they were unworthy, unwanted, or socially insignificant. Loneliness translated these experiences into persistent emotional pain, rumination, withdrawal, hopelessness, anhedonia, fatigue, and reduced motivation. Emotional, instrumental, and informational support attenuated this process when it was reliable, respectful, nonjudgmental, and responsive to the participant’s actual needs. Loneliness appears to constitute a central explanatory pathway through which perceived social deprivation is transformed into depressive symptomatology. Social support can weaken this pathway, although its protective value depends more on perceived quality, accessibility, and relational safety than on the mere number of social contacts. Effective prevention should therefore combine individual psychological interventions with community-based and structural strategies that strengthen belonging, reduce exclusion and stigma, and provide meaningful and context-sensitive support.