Influence of "Face-to-Face Contact" and "Non-Face-to-Face Contact" on the Subsequent Decline in Self-Rated Health and Mental Health Status of Young, Middle-Aged, and Older Japanese Adults: A Two-Year Prospective Study.

Kumiko Nonaka,Motoki Tanaka,Hiroshi Murayama,Koji Fujita,Yuta Nemoto,Masataka Kuraoka,Yoshinori Fujiwara,Hiroko Matsunaga,Yoh Murayama,Sachiko Murayama,Erika Kobayashi

doi:10.3390/ijerph19042218

Abstract

This study aims to identify the independent influence of face-to-face contact (FFC) and non-face-to-face contact (NFFC) on the subsequent decline in self-rated health and mental health status by age. A total of 12,000 participants were randomly selected among residents in the study area, and 1751 of them responded to both the 2016 and 2018 mail surveys. The participants were subsequently classified into three age groups (25–49: Young adults; 50–64: Mid-aged adults; and 65–84: Older adults). Social contact was assessed by computing the frequencies of FFC and NFFC. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed the risk of social contact on the decline in self-rated health and World Health Organization-Five Well-Being Index. Both FFC and NFFC were significantly associated with maintaining mental health; however, the impacts of FFC on mental health were more significant than that of NFFC among older adults and young adults. Compared with the no contact group, FFC was significantly associated with maintaining self-rated health in mid-aged adults. The influence of FFC and NFFC on health differed by age group.

Highlights

The analysis included participants who had good self-rated health and good WHO-5 (≥13) at the baseline, and the confounding variables were entered into the models and were mandatory after we considered the degree of multiple collinearities
Our findings revealed that the associations of face-to-face contact (FFC) and non-face-to-face contact (NFFC) social contacts with self-rated health and mental health were different between Groups O, M, and Y, respectively
The current study showed that FFC and NFFC were significantly associated with maintaining mental health, and the impact of FFC was more significant than that of NFFC

Summary

Introduction

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Social contact is an essential behavior in the daily lives of people, which can affect individuals’ health status. A general lack of social contact and a reduced social network size is defined as social isolation. A previous systematic review revealed that social isolation is associated with general and mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression, and is one of the causes of mortality in adults [1]. A meta-analysis from a review article showed that individuals who are more firmly embedded in their social surroundings are healthier than those with relatively weak social ties, an indication that the risk effect of social contact on human lives exceeds the risk effect of other lifestyle factors such as smoking, drinking, and exercise habits [2]

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