Social relationships and physiological determinants of longevity across the human life span

Yang Claire Yang, Courtney Boen, Karen Gerken, Ting Li, Kristen Schorpp, Kathleen Mullan Harris, Yang Claire Yang, Courtney Boen, Karen Gerken, Ting Li, Kristen Schorpp, Kathleen Mullan Harris

Abstract

Two decades of research indicate causal associations between social relationships and mortality, but important questions remain as to how social relationships affect health, when effects emerge, and how long they last. Drawing on data from four nationally representative longitudinal samples of the US population, we implemented an innovative life course design to assess the prospective association of both structural and functional dimensions of social relationships (social integration, social support, and social strain) with objectively measured biomarkers of physical health (C-reactive protein, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, waist circumference, and body mass index) within each life stage, including adolescence and young, middle, and late adulthood, and compare such associations across life stages. We found that a higher degree of social integration was associated with lower risk of physiological dysregulation in a dose-response manner in both early and later life. Conversely, lack of social connections was associated with vastly elevated risk in specific life stages. For example, social isolation increased the risk of inflammation by the same magnitude as physical inactivity in adolescence, and the effect of social isolation on hypertension exceeded that of clinical risk factors such as diabetes in old age. Analyses of multiple dimensions of social relationships within multiple samples across the life course produced consistent and robust associations with health. Physiological impacts of structural and functional dimensions of social relationships emerge uniquely in adolescence and midlife and persist into old age.

Keywords: biomarker; life course; longevity; physiological dysregulation; social relationships.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
A life course model of social relationship gradient in physical health: Mechanism and process. Empirical tests of the link represented in path C were applied in each stage of the life course trajectory D.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Prospective associations of social integration with biomarkers of physiological functioning over the life course. Results based on ordinary least squares (OLS) models of biomarkers at follow-up regressed on baseline social integration, adjusting for age, sex, and race. HRS and NSHAP findings are similar, so we present the larger HRS sample results.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Prospective associations of social support and strain with biomarkers of physiological functioning over the life course. OLS models of biomarkers at follow-up regressed on baseline dichotomous measures of social support and social strain, adjusting for age, sex, and race. HRS and NSHAP findings are similar, so we present the larger HRS sample results.
Fig. S1.
Fig. S1.
Representation of the latent growth curve model and hypothesized relationships between social integration and biomarkers from HRS.

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