Research on Strengthening Social Connection & Fostering Purpose

• Health Benefits of Social Relationships

• Benefits of Volunteering
  • Corporation for National and Community Service

Volunteering has long been a common ethic in the United States, with people each year giving their time without any expectation of compensation. While these volunteer activities may be performed with the core intention of helping others, there is also a common wisdom that those who give of themselves also receive. Researchers have attempted to measure the benefits that volunteers receive, including the positive feeling referred to as “helper’s high,” increased trust in others, and increased social and political participation.

• • Bowling Alone

In a groundbreaking book based on vast data, Putnam shows how we have become increasingly disconnected from family, friends, neighbors, and our democratic structures– and how we may reconnect.

• • National Institute on Aging

Several research studies have shown a strong correlation between social interaction and health and well-being among older adults and have suggested that social isolation may have significant adverse effects for older adults. For example, study results indicate that:

~ Social relationships are consistently associated with biomarkers of health.

~ Positive indicators of social well-being may be associated with lower levels of interleukin-6 in otherwise healthy people. Interleukin-6 is an inflammatory factor implicated in age-related disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, cardiovascular disease, and some forms of cancer.

~ Some grandparents feel that caring for their grandchildren makes them healthier and more active. They experience a strong emotional bond and often lead a more active lifestyle, eat healthier meals, and may even reduce or stop smoking.

~ Social isolation constitutes a major risk factor for morbidity and mortality, especially in older adults.

~ Loneliness may have a physical as well as an emotional impact. For example, people who are lonely frequently have elevated systolic blood pressure.

~ Loneliness is a unique risk factor for symptoms of depression, and loneliness and depression have a synergistic adverse effect on well-being in middle-aged and older adults.

• Social Relationships and Health: A Flashpoint for Health Policy

Umberson, D, Kara, J, (2010). Social Relationships and Health: A Flashpoint for Health Policy. J Health Soc Behav. 2010; 51(Suppl): S54–S66.

Abstract: Social relationships—both quantity and quality—affect mental health, health behavior, physical health, and mortality risk. Sociologists have played a central role in establishing the link between social relationships and health outcomes, identifying explanations for this link, and discovering social variation (e.g., by gender and race) at the population level. Studies show that social relationships have short- and long-term effects on health, for better and for worse, and that these effects emerge in childhood and cascade throughout life to foster cumulative advantage or disadvantage in health. This article describes key research themes in the study of social relationships and health, and it highlights policy implications suggested by this research.

• Bullying

  • Bullying is a type of youth violence that threatens young people’s well-being

  • CDC Prevent Bullying

  • Preventing Bullying - Bullying is unwanted aggressive behavior by another youth or group of youth, who are not siblings or dating partners, which involves a real or perceived power imbalance

  • The Relationship between Bullying and Suicide

  • StopBullying.gov - When adults respond quickly and consistently to bullying behavior they send the message that it is not acceptable. Research shows this can stop bullying behavior over time.

  • What Kids Can Do - Are you being bullied? Do you see bullying at your school? There are things you can do to keep yourself and the kids you know safe from bullying.