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Evidence Base Home » Social Cohesion and Social Integration » Social ties and support may have beneficial effects on physical and mental health

Articles in Social ties and support may have beneficial effects on physical and mental health.

  • Social support, perceived or provided, can buffer stressful situations, prevent feelings of isolation, and contribute to high self-esteem.

    Cohen S, Underwood LG, Gottlieb BH. 2000. Social Support Measurement and Intervention. Oxford University Press. New York.

  • There is a strong association between perceived social isolation and depression,

    Hawthorne G. 2008. Perceived social isolation in a community sample: its prevalence and correlates with aspects of peoples' lives. Social Psychiatry And Psychiatric Epidemiology. 43(2): 140-150.

  • Family support and assistance improve the patient’s illness management and compliance with demanding treatment.

    Kara B, caglar K, Kilic S (2007) Nonadherence with diet and fluid restrictions and perceived social support in patients receiving hemodialysis. J Nursing Scholarship 39:243-248.
    Lo R (1999) Correlates of expected success at adherence to health regimen of people with IDDM. J Adv Nurs 30:418-424.

  • Individuals with low levels of social support have higher mortality rates, for example from cardiovascular disease, cancer and HIV.

    Berkman LF, Leo-Summers L, Horwitz RI. 1992. Emotional support and survival after myorcardial infaction: A prospective, population-based study of the elderly. Annals of Internal Medicine 117:1003–1009.
    Frasure-Smith N, Lesperance F, Gravel G, Masson A, Juneau M, Talajic M, Bourassa MG. 2000. Social support, depression, and mortality during the first year after myocardial infarction. Circulation 101:1919–1924
    Ell K, Nishimoto R, Medianski L, Mantell J, Hamovitch M. 1992. Social relations, social support and survival among patients with cancer. Journal of Psychosomatic Research 36: 531–541.
    Lee M, Rotheram-Borus MJ. 2001. Challenges associated with increased survival among parents living with HIV. American Journal of Public Health 91:1303–1309.

  • The value of social networks may also explain why living in first generation immigrant communities appears to be protective of health. In a recent study, living in high-density Mexican-American neighborhoods reduced the risk of stroke, cancer, and hip fracture by two-thirds for older Mexican immigrants.

    Eschbach K, Ostir GV, Patel KV, Markides S, Goodwin JS. Neighborhood context and mortality among older Mexican Americans: Is there a Barrio Advantage. American Journal of Public Health. 2004; 94: 1807-1812.

  • Social support was a consistent predictor of abstinence from opiate use over time and can bolster the maintenance of abstinence in substance abuse control.

    Gossop M, Green L, Phillips G, Bradley B. (1990) Factors predicting outcome among opiate addicts after treatment. Br J Clin Psychol 29(2):209-16.

  • Social support has been found to moderate the anxiety and depression of witnessing community violence.

    Hammack PL, Richards MH, Luo Z, Edlynn ES, Roy K. Social support factors as moderators of community violence exposure among inner-city African American young adolescents. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology 33(3):450-62.

  • Social support helps patients recover faster from illnesses. For example, cardiac patients with higher social support recover more quickly after hospitalization from heart disease. Conversely, lack of a supportive social network is a risk factor for subsequent morbidity and mortality after a myocardial infarction.

    Fontana AF, Kerns RD, Rosenberg RL, Colonese KL. (1989) Support, stress, and recovery from coronary heart disease: a longitudinal causal model. Healthy Psychology 8(2):175-93.

  • People who reported a severe lack of social support were 2.19 times more likely to report fair or poor health.

    Poortinga W. 2006. Social relations or social capital? Individual and community health effects of bonding social capital. Social Science and medicine 63:255-270.

  • In a seminal work on the health effects of social support in 1979, men and women who lacked social ties to others were found to 1.9 to 3.1 times more likely to die during the follow-up period than those who had many contacts.

    Berkman LF, Syme SL. 1979. Social networks, host resistance and mortality: a nine-year follow up study of Alameda County residents. American Journal of Epidemiology 109:186-204.

  • Emile Durkheim's work on suicide showed that the lowest rates of suicide occurred in societies with the highest degrees of social integration. An excess of suicides occurred in societies undergoing dislocation and loosening of social bonds.

    Berkman LF, Kawachi I. 2000. A Historical Framework for Social Epidemiology. Chapter 1 in Social Epidemiology. Oxford University Press. New York, NY.

  • Social connection has a variety of health impacts, ranging from reducing stress, having a longer lifespan, and supplying access to emotional and physical resources.

    Poortinga W. Social relations or social capital? individual and community health effects of bonding social capital. Soc Sci Med. 2006;63:255-270.

  • In a study in Philadelphia, the likelihood of neighbors helping one another, their sense of belonging, and the trustworthiness of their neighbors was associated with lower black mortality.

    Hutchinson RN, Putt MA, Dean LT, Long JA, Montagnet CA, Armstrong K. 2009. Neighborhood racial composition, social capital and black all-cause mortality in Philadelphia. 2009. Social Science & Medicine 68(10):1859-1865.