The Many Faces of Social Connectedness and Their Impact on Well-being (original) (raw)
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Türk Psikolojik Danışma ve Rehberlik Dergisi, 2021
The researcher in this study examined psychological vulnerability as a mediator between social connectedness and well-being among university students in Turkey. Two hundred sixty-one students (138 females and 123 males, mean age = 20.95 ± 1.49) completed self-report questionnaires including the Social Connectedness Scale, the Subjective Vitality Scale, the Subjective Happiness Scale, the Flourishing Scale, and the Psychological Vulnerability Scale. The researcher explored a theoretical-conceptual model and tested it using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and bootstrapping. SEM results showed that social connectedness had a direct effect on well-being, partially mediated by psychological vulnerability. The results indicated an indirect yet significant effect of psychological vulnerability on the relationship between social connectedness and well-being. Theoretical implications and research limitations were discussed.
Social Connectedness Identity and Physical Health: A Multi-Study Investigation
Research Square (Research Square), 2023
Background Aims of the current study were to investigate social connectedness as an identity component of belongingness that is distinct from social support and of potential interest in health research. Methods Social connectedness identity (SCI) and health factors were measured in a sample of college students (Study 1, n = 486) and a sample of individuals with ongoing symptoms of chronic illness (Study 2, n = 225). The third study added loneliness and stress measures to explore SCI as a potential antecedent in a serial mediation model (Study 3, n = 280). Results SCI emerged as a signi cant and independent predictor of physical symptomatology, physical functioning, and general health. In Study 3, serial mediation ndings showed that the stress of loneliness explained the connection between SCI and health. Conclusions Results from the three reported studies identify SCI as a belongingness identity concept that warrants further study in reference to health and loneliness.
Social Capital and Perceived Psychological Well
Social relationships are fundamental to physical, social, and psychological well-being, offering opportunities for information exchange, trust-building, and reciprocal support. Consequently, social capital is closely linked to psychological well-being. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between social capital and psychological well-being, along with the factors that predict these outcomes. A descriptive community-based survey design was used, with self-administered questionnaires assessing psychological well-being and social capital. A total of 303 participants were randomly selected for the study. Correlational analysis was conducted to explore the relationship between social capital and psychosocial well-being, while multiple regression analysis was performed using SPSS.25 to identify the predictors of both social capital and psychological well-being. The results revealed a significant relationship between social capital and psychosocial well-being, with social capital playing a crucial role in enhancing autonomy and life satisfaction. Additionally, being married, residing in the area for a long time, and having higher educational attainment were associated with higher levels of social capital. Psychological well-being was also positively related to length of residence, social capital, and education level. These findings suggest that, in an era of increasing psychosocial challenges, policies fostering social connections and relationships are essential for promoting better mental health.
Social Capital and Psychological Distress
2011
The author proposes a conceptual model to explain the diverse roles of social capital--resources embedded in social networks--in the social production of health. Using a unique national U.S. sample, the author estimated a path analysis model to examine the direct and indirect effects of social capital on psychological distress and its intervening effects on the relationships between other structural antecedents and psychological distress. The results show that social capital is inversely associated with psychological distress, and part of that effect is indirect through subjective social status. Social capital also acts as an intervening mechanism to link seven social factors (age, gender, race-ethnicity, education, occupational prestige, annual family income, and voluntary participation) with psychological distress. This study develops the theory of social capital as network resources and demonstrates the complex functions of social capital as a distinct social determinant of health.
Social Connections and Wellbeing
14th International Quality Conference, 2019
Fears, attitudes, closeness of different social categories and media use were explored by through the Results of Oxford Happiness Inventory and Multiple Lickert scale. Findings include that happier individuals are better connected to their family, express positive stands on teachers, professors, sport workers and members of some nations. These notions are connected to results of previous research inquiries about wellbeing and increased agreeableness, increased extroversion, increased openness to experience and decreased neuroticism.
Social connectedness as a determinant of mental health: A scoping review
2022
Public health and epidemiologic research have established that social connectedness promotes overall health. Yet there have been no recent reviews of findings from research examining social connectedness as a determinant of mental health. The goal of this review was to evaluate recent longitudinal research probing the effects of social connectedness on depression and anxiety symptoms and diagnoses in the general population. A scoping review was performed of PubMed and PsychInfo databases from January 2015 to December 2020 following PRISMA-ScR guidelines using a defined search strategy. The search yielded 56 articles representing 52 unique studies. In research with other than pregnant women, 84% (16 of 19) studies reported that social support benefited symptoms of depression with the remaining 16% (3 of 19) reporting minimal or no evidence that lower levels of social support predict depression at follow-up. In research with pregnant women, 80% (21 of 26 studies) found that low social...
Over the last two decades, social capital has received increasing attention in the international literature. Despite the popularity of the construct, problems concerning definition, theoretical conceptualisation, and measurement continue to plague research and policy in this area. This investigation aimed to address this gap by developing a new social capital instrument to test the theorised nature of the construct. Utilising a sample of 1371 young Australians living in disadvantaged communities, the newly developed Social Capital and Cohesion Scale (SCCS) combined the commonalities in the current theoretical conceptualisations of social capital defining it as a multi-level, multidimensional construct consisting of trust and reciprocity across family, peer, neighbour, and institutional networks. To test the convergent validity of the scale, relations with mental health were also examined. Confirmatory factor analysis results demonstrated that the SCCS was a valid and reliable multidimensional scale, which was invariant across both regional and gender groups. Correlational analysis demonstrated that associations with depression, anxiety, and stress were consistent with past research thereby strengthening the validity of the SCCS measure.
International Journal of Public Health, 2022
Objectives: Evidence on social stimuli associated with mental health is based mostly on self-reported health measures. We aimed to examine prospective associations between social connectedness and clinical diagnosis of depression and of anxiety.Methods: Longitudinal observational data merged with health insurance data comprising medical information on diagnosis of depression and anxiety were used. 1,209 randomly sampled employees of a US employer provided data for the analysis. Robust Poisson regression models were used. Multiple imputation was conducted to handle missing data on covariates.Results: Better social connectedness was associated with lower risks of subsequently diagnosed depression and anxiety, over a one-year follow-up period. Reports of feeling lonely were associated with increased risks of depression and anxiety. Association between community-related social connectedness and subsequent diagnosis of depression, but not of anxiety, was found. The associations were inde...
Exploring the Role of Social Connectedness and Health Anxiety in Predicting Psychological Well-being
Asian Pacific Journal of Health Sciences, 2022
Background: Due to COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing was taken as one of the precautionary measure in India. Uncertainty about signs and symptoms, modes of transmission, and lack of definite treatment of COVID-19 have put the mental health of people in India at risk. This study was carried out to explore the role of connectedness, affiliation, and companionship factors of social connectedness and health anxiety in predicting psychological well-being and its components. Method: This study was carried out on 317 Indian adults recruited through convenience sampling method during July 2020 to November 2020. Hypotheses were tested using linear regression methods. Results: Companionship predicted 1.9% and 7.7% of variance in autonomy and environmental mastery, respectively. Affiliation predicted 6.7% variance in personal growth. Connectedness and companionship explained 26.8% variance of positive relationships with others and 16.1% of self-acceptance. Health anxiety predicted 6.3%, 6.8, 6.7%, 8.3%, and 9% variance of autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relationship with others, and self-acceptance, respectively. Conclusion: "Connectedness" and "companionship" were the significant predictors of "positive relationships with others" and "self-acceptance. " "Companionship" predicted "autonomy" and "environmental mastery, " whereas "personal growth" was predicted by "affiliation. " Health anxiety predicted all domains of psychological well-being except purpose of life.
Social Capital and Well-being in Belgium (Flanders): Identifying the Role of Networks and Context
This dissertation investigates the role of social capital and context in well-being. Social capital is seen as the resources embedded in social networks. Well-being is investigated both at the individual level, in the form of satisfaction with life, and at the community level, through crime and suicide levels. To conceptualize strength and closeness of social ties, the distinction between bonding and bridging social capital is used throughout the dissertation. Bonding capital refers to the supportive resources embedded in close and strong ties between similars, existing mainly between kin and close friends, while bridging social capital consists of the informational and instrumental resources embedded in weaker ties between socially or culturally different people.A first important finding is the extent to which social relations themselves are influenced by their context. It can be said that, despite strong tendencies towards homophily, a diverse context has an additional influence on personal network diversity. This illustrates that weak ties too are in part local, and the geographical context still plays a role in their composition in this age of globalization and virtual social networks. Close and intensive ties, providing emotional support, are the most important factor in explaining individual subjective well-being. Living with a partner can be seen as a central indicator of bonding ties providing emotional support. Large socio-economic inequalities have a negative influence on well-being and health, even for those holding a better societal position. While subjective well-being is directly and indirectly influenced strongly by the quality, more than the quantity, of bonding social capital one has, contextual effects are limited and only occur when large inequalities between communities exist.Shifting the level of analysis from individual well-being to community well-being, two classical indicators associated with the quality of life in a community, suicide and crime rates, and their relation with social integration are investigated. Social integration consists of the community level aspects of social relations in different life domains. Suicide rates tend to be higher in communities with higher proportions of single households, an older population and a negative net migration. These elements together indicate a higher risk for social isolation, a fertile ground for suicidal behavior. Crime on the other hand is related more to income inequality and unemployment, indicators for deprivation and exclusion from the job market. Both suicide rates and property crime can be seen as contagious community level phenomena, in the sense that communities are influenced by the suicide and crime level of their direct environment. While for suicide this might point in the direction of imitation, or at least of higher tolerance and acceptance for suicide in regions where rates are high, the contagion effect in property crime rates might point to the mobility of crime, which manifests itself as a spill-over effect. Violent crime rates are notcontagious, but seem to be spatially concentrated in regions larger than a municipality. In summary it can be confidently stated that social relations are related to different indicators of well-being. Subjective individual well-being is related to bonding social capital, while community well-being on the other hand is associated more with social integration in the private or public domain for suicide and crime rates respectively.