FAMERP 2016

Social life in youth may impact health decades later

Robert Preidt

August 6, 2015

Having good social connections at age 20 can lead

to improved well-being later in life, a new study suggests.

Previous research has shown that people with poor social links

are at increased risk for early death. “In fact, having few social

connections is equivalent to tobacco use, and [the risk is]

higher than for those who drink excessive amounts of alcohol,

or who suffer from obesity,” study author Cheryl Carmichael,

who conducted the study while a doctoral candidate at the

University of Rochester in New York, said in a university news

release.

The study included 133 people who enrolled when

they were 20-year-old college students in the 1970s. The

participants kept track of their daily social interactions at

ages 20 and 30. At age 50, they completed an online survey

about the quality of their social lives and emotional well-being,

including questions about loneliness and depression, and

their relationships with close friends.

The findings showed that frequent social interactions at

age 20 and good-quality relationships – defined as intimate

and satisfying – at age 30 were associated with higher levels

of well-being at age 50. The study findings were published in

a recent issue of the journal Psychology and Aging.

A high number of social interactions at age 20 are

beneficial later in life because they help young adults

determine who they are, the researchers said. “It’s

often around this age that we meet people from diverse

backgrounds, with opinions and values that are different

from our own, and we learn how to best manage those

differences,” said Carmichael, now an assistant professor

of psychology at Brooklyn College. “Considering everything

else that goes on in life over those 30 years – marriage,

raising a family and building a career – it is extraordinary

that there appears to be a relationship between the kinds

of interactions college students and young adults have and

their emotional health later in life,” she concluded.

(www.nlm.nih.gov)