The Importance of Social Context and Relationships for Well-being Across the Life Course
Year: 2018
Type: conference-abstract
Abstract: Health and well-being are typically analyzed as individual outcomes, yet a focus on individual-level influences and interventions may overlook the important roles that one’s social environment and set of social relationships can play in life course trajectories of health and well-being. I will discuss ways in which relationships – ranging from intimate ties such as marriage to weak, even unchosen ties with neighbors and community members – may influence psychological, emotional, and physical health in mid- and later life. I will focus in particular on issues such as marital quality and emotional contagion among older spouses; the heightened influence of social connectedness in later life; the impacts of neighborhood age demographics on perceived discrimination, social cohesion, and well-being; and the role of psychological and emotional well-being as mechanisms linking social ties with physical health.
Source: Innovation in Aging
Author: J E Stokes
Institution: Illinois State University
Language: English
Subfield: Health
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,977
OpenAlex ID: W2900270453