Social Connection

Social connection — the quantity and quality of a person's relationships — is treated in the public-health literature as a measurable health factor, not a soft extra.

What published research reports

A meta-analysis of 148 studies covering more than 308,000 people, published in PLoS Medicine (2010), reported that people with stronger social relationships had a 50% higher likelihood of survival over the study periods than those with weaker ones — an effect size the authors compared to quitting smoking and reported as exceeding those of obesity and physical inactivity. The association held across age, sex and cause of death. Subsequent public-health reports, including advisories from the US Surgeon General's office, cite this literature in treating social connection as a population health priority.

References

• Holt-Lunstad J, Smith TB, Layton JB. Social relationships and mortality risk: a meta-analytic review. PLoS Med. 2010;7(7):e1000316. PubMed