Abstract
Previous research indicates that social relatedness is beneficial to physical health; however, findings on the relative strength of the relationship between these variables have been inconsistent. The present study employed cross-sectional survey (Study 1) and a daily diary survey (Study 2) to examine the link between social relatedness and physical health by age. Using a representative sample of Korean adults (N = 371) aged from 20 to 69, Study 1 examines the link between social relatedness (loneliness, perceived social support) and physical health (physical symptoms, chronic health conditions) using age as a moderator. The results show that participants' age moderates the association between social relatedness and physical health. Study 2 (N = 384) further corroborated the findings from Study 1 by showing that when controlling for the physical symptoms experienced prior to the daily diary reports, the level of loneliness experienced over a 13-day period exacerbates the age differences in the physical symptoms. The present study thus provides converging evidence that social relatedness plays a significant role in physical health, particularly in the older population.
Highlights
It has been well established that social resources constitute one of the major protective factors for both physical and mental health (Holt-Lunstad et al, 2010; Uchino et al, 2012)
We used hierarchical multiple regression to examine the association between social relatedness and physical health, and whether it is differentially associated depending on age
We examined whether the daily experience of loneliness over the course of 13 days had a detrimental effect on the participants’ physical health and whether such a negative effect might be qualified by age—that is, whether the negative effect of loneliness on physical health might be more evident in older participants than in younger participants
Summary
It has been well established that social resources constitute one of the major protective factors for both physical and mental health (Holt-Lunstad et al, 2010; Uchino et al, 2012). Loneliness, or the perception that one lacks social resources, is a pervasive experience in most modern societies (Victor and Yang, 2012; Victor and Sullivan, 2015). Loneliness is a fundamentally a distressing feeling that stems, in part, from a lack of fulfillment of one’s need or desire to connect with others (Cacioppo et al, 2002). Compared to depression or anxiety, loneliness is a type of negative emotional experience that involves the social interdependence of individuals; it is called a socially engaging (vs disengaging) emotion (Kitayama et al, 2006; Uchida and Kitayama, 2009). The so-called socially engaging emotions are associated with people’s happiness, so in an interdependent cultural context such as in East Asian cultural context (Kitayama et al, 2006)
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