Social Relationships and Health: The Toxic Effects of Perceived Social Isolation

Abstract

Research in social epidemiology suggests that the absence of positive social relationships is a significant risk factor for broad-based morbidity and mortality. The nature of these social relationships and the mechanisms underlying this association are of increasing interest as the population gets older and the health care costs associated with chronic disease escalate in industrialized countries. We review selected evidence on the nature of social relationships and focus on one particular facet of the connection continuum – the extent to which an individual feels isolated (i.e., feels lonely) in a social world. Evidence indicates that loneliness heightens sensitivity to social threats and motivates the renewal of social connections, but it can also impair executive functioning, sleep, and mental and physical well-being. Together, these effects contribute to higher rates of morbidity and mortality in lonely older adults.

Proceedings of the Fourth Workshop on Computational Linguistics and Clinical Psychology –- From Linguistic Signal to Clinical Reality

“…High quality social connections or networks are associated with increased positive health behaviors (Cohen & Janicki-Deverts, 2009;Walton & Cohen, 2011), improved academic outcome (Walton & Cohen, 2011), and reduced depressive symptoms (Williams & Galliher, 2006). Social isolation (SI) is a lack of contact and engagement between oneself and society (Cacioppo & Cacioppo, 2014;Nicholson, 2012;Zavaleta, Samuel, & Mills, 2014). There are two types of social isolation: objective isolation, such as absence or limited number of meaningful social interactions; and subjective isolation where an individual reports feeling socially isolated or loneliness (Cacioppo & Cacioppo, 2014;Zavaleta et al, 2014).…”

Patterns of Twitter Usage in One Cohort-Based Doctoral Program

“…Perceived social isolation, often described as loneliness, has been referred to as "a chronic distress without redeeming features" (Weiss, 1973, p. 15). Cacioppo and Cacioppo (2014) reported that while loneliness heightened sensitivity to social threats and motivated the renewal of social connections, it also had negative physical health consequences including impaired executive functioning and decreased sleep, mental, and physical well-being. All of these issues may have lasting impacts on the quality of life of both graduates and non-graduates.…”

Leveraging the Value of Human Relationships to Improve Health Outcomes

“…As social animals, humans build complex relationships with one another within the community that they live in [1]. Identifying such relationships between patients and their caregivers, family members/dependents, and healthcare providers can help inform community support structures, identify disease discordance/relationship-based clusters, and improve community health care delivery, thus improving the efficiency, effectiveness, and impact of healthcare [2][3][4].…”