Altering Social Connections to Improve Health? A Preregistered Systematic Mapping of Experimental Evidence
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Study design: Systematic Review
Abstract: Although observational research consistently links social connectedness with better health, it remains unclear whether experimentally altering social relationships causally improves health. We conducted a preregistered systematic mapping of randomized controlled trials and laboratory experiments evaluating whether interventions or laboratory experiments targeting social connectedness—including social support, social participation, relationship functioning, loneliness, and related constructs—produce changes in health behaviors, biomarkers, or clinical health endpoints. Searches across eight databases, supplemented by backward citation and targeted author searches, identified more than 68,000 records published between 1979 and 2026. Following preregistered screening procedures, 304 studies involving more than 71,000 participants met inclusion criteria. The literature was broad but uneven. Most studies targeted functional aspects of social connectedness (69.2%), whereas fewer focused on structural (16.6%) or relationship-quality (14.2%) dimensions. Despite their prominence in observational research, loneliness and social isolation were rarely targeted directly. Health behavior outcomes were more common than biomarkers or clinical endpoints, and few studies explicitly tested the social-relational mechanisms underlying intervention effects. These findings suggest that social connectedness is a viable target for improving health while highlighting important conceptual and methodological priorities for future research, particularly stronger tests of mechanisms and greater precision in defining intervention targets.
Language: English
Subfield: Health
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7172516667