Social Support and Strain Across Close Relationships: A Twin Study

Julia Kutschke,Teresa E Seeman,Jennifer R Harris,May-Bente Bengtson

doi:10.1007/s10519-018-9899-x

Abstract

Social relationships play a critical role in health and well-being throughout life. We analyzed the genetic and environmental variance co-variance structure for social support and strain across four sets of relationships including with one’s co-twin, spouse/partner, family and friends. The sample included 5288 Norwegian twins aged 40–80. Older people reported less support from their co-twin and friends and less strain from their family and friends. Genetic influences contribute importantly to variation across all the measures, with estimates ranging from 0 to 58%; variance due to shared environmental influences was most important for the twin-relationship, ranging from 0.11 to 0.42%. Social support was negatively correlated with social strain across all sets of relationships. With the exception of the co-twin relationship, these associations were primarily mediated by genetic and non-shared environmental effects.

Highlights

A large and compelling literature demonstrates the importance of social relationships for physical and mental health throughout life (Cacioppo et al 2006; Gariépy et al 2016; House et al 1988; Ryff and Singer 2005; Uchino et al 1996)
Each relationship measure was based on four items: (1) how much does your co-twin really care about you?; (2) how much does he/she really understand the way you feel about things?; (3) how much can you rely on him/her if you have a serious problem?; (4) how much can you open up to him/her if you need to talk about your worries? Each item was scored on a scale ranging from 1 to 4 (1 = a lot, 2 = some, 3 = a little, 4 = not at all) and reverse-coded before calculating the mean score which was assigned to be the value for co-twin support
The twin relationship was included as a separate type of relationship not combined within the general family category

Summary

Introduction

A large and compelling literature demonstrates the importance of social relationships for physical and mental health throughout life (Cacioppo et al 2006; Gariépy et al 2016; House et al 1988; Ryff and Singer 2005; Uchino et al 1996). While many empirical investigations focus on identifying biological pathways through which social relationships exert their effects on health, virtually no research has examined heritable effects on variation in perceptions of social support and social strain across close relationships. To fill this knowledge gap, we study the genetic and environmental variance–covariance structure across four key relationship realms using the classical twin design. This information is important on two fronts It will help elucidate issues of causality between social support, social strain and specific types of health outcomes where the same sets of genetic or environmental factors may underlie the observed associations.

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion