NIH VideoCast - Social Connections and Health

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Social Connections and Health

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Air date:	Monday, October 22, 2012, 2:00:00 PM Time displayed is Eastern Time, Washington DC Local
Views:	Total views: 309 (39 Live, 270 On-demand)
Category:	BSSR - Behavioral and Social Sciences
Runtime:	01:13:14
Closed captioning:	Check box to display CC outside of the video Note: You can drag the captioning window around and resize it
Description:	NIH BSSR Sixth Matilda White Riley Lecture Those with more and better higher-quality social connections show better physical and emotional health and better longevity than those who are less well connected. Some have compared the hazards of poor social connections to the hazards of smoking. Perhaps the most important social relationship for adults is marriage, which seems to improve health and lengthen life, unless it is unhappy. But many other social relationships also contribute to health. These include participation in formal organizations such as clubs or religious groups, socializing with friends and family, or membership in a network of others. Recent research has illuminated the pathways through which social connections are linked to health. This talk begins by discussing the contributions of Matilda White Riley to theories of aging, especially the links between aging and social structures. Riley suggests that people born into different cohorts experience the life course in unique ways because at key developmental stages they pass through different economic, social, sexual, and health contexts. Exposure to marriage has changed over time and over cohorts, as have sexual and marital biographies, in ways affecting health. Social isolation, both as observed and as perceived by the individual, is linked to worse health along a number of dimensions, and characteristics of social networks are linked to health in complex ways. The talk describes the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project, a longitudinal study of the link between social relationships and health at older ages and its contributions to our understanding of this link. For more information go to http://obssr.od.nih.gov/news_and_events/lectures_and_seminars/matilda_white_riley_annual_lecture/seminars.aspx

NLM Title:	Social connections and health / Linda J. Waite.
Author:	Waite, Linda J. National Institutes of Health (U.S.). Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research.
Publisher:
Abstract:	(CIT): NIH BSSR Sixth Matilda White Riley Lecture Those with more and better higher-quality social connections show better physical and emotional health and better longevity than those who are less well connected. Some have compared the hazards of poor social connections to the hazards of smoking. Perhaps the most important social relationship for adults is marriage, which seems to improve health and lengthen life, unless it is unhappy. But many other social relationships also contribute to health. These include participation in formal organizations such as clubs or religious groups, socializing with friends and family, or membership in a network of others. Recent research has illuminated the pathways through which social connections are linked to health. This talk begins by discussing the contributions of Matilda White Riley to theories of aging, especially the links between aging and social structures. Riley suggests that people born into different cohorts experience the life course in unique ways because at key developmental stages they pass through different economic, social, sexual, and health contexts. Exposure to marriage has changed over time and over cohorts, as have sexual and marital biographies, in ways affecting health. Social isolation, both as observed and as perceived by the individual, is linked to worse health along a number of dimensions, and characteristics of social networks are linked to health in complex ways. The talk describes the National Social Life, Health and Aging Project, a longitudinal study of the link between social relationships and health at older ages and its contributions to our understanding of this link.
Subjects:	Aging Health Status Marriage Social Participation Social Support United States
Publication Types:	Lecture Webcast

NLM Classification:	WT 104
NLM ID:	101595201
CIT Live ID:	12039
Permanent link:	https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=12039

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