In: Statistics and Probability
discuss empirical data about social relationship and health
Social relationship and
health
In social science, a social relation or social interaction is any
relationship between two or more individuals. Social relations
derived from individual agency form the basis of social structure
and the basic object for analysis by social scientists.
Social scientists have studied several distinct features of social
connection offered by relationships. Social isolation refers to the
relative absence of social relationships. Social integration refers
to overall level of involvement with informal social relationships,
such having a spouse, and with formal social relationships,those
with religious institutions and volunteer organizations. Quality of
relationships includes positive aspects of relationships, such as
emotional support provided by significant others, and strained
aspects of relationships, such as conflict and stress. Social
networks refer to the web of social relationships surrounding an
individual, in particular, structural features, such as the type
and strength of each social relationship. Each of these aspects of
social relationships affects health. We discuss the broad effects
of these features of relationships for health, and, for ease of
discussion, we use the terms “social relationships” and “social
ties” interchangeably