Centre for Policy on Ageing



Social relationships and health
Author(s)	James S House, Karl R Landis, Debra Umberson
Journal title	Science, vol 241, 29 July 1988
Pages	pp 540-544
Keywords	Health [elderly] ; Social characteristics [elderly] ; Personal relationships ; Literature reviews ; United States of America.
Annotation	Recent scientific work has established both a theoretical basis and strong empirical evidence for a causal impact of social relationships and health. Prospective studies - which control for baseline health status - consistently show increased risk of death among people with a low quantity, and sometimes a low quality, of social relationships. Experimental and quasi-experimental studies of humans and animals also suggest that social isolation as a major risk factor for mortality from widely varying causes. The mechanisms through which social relationships affect health and the factors that promote or inhibit the development and maintenance of social relationships remain to be explored. The authors review some of the US evidence since the 1950s. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-980828224 A
Classmark	CC: F: DS: 64A: 7T *
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.