Happy but unhealthy: The relationship between social ties and health in an emerging network

Jennifer L. Howell; Namkje Koudenburg; David D. Loschelder; Dale Weston; Katrien Fransen; Stefano De Dominicis; S. Gallagher; S. Alexander Haslam

doi:10.1002/ejsp.2030

Happy but unhealthy: The relationship between social ties and health in an emerging network

Jennifer L. Howell^*, Namkje Koudenburg, David D. Loschelder, Dale Weston, Katrien Fransen, Stefano De Dominicis, S. Gallagher, S. Alexander Haslam

^*Corresponding author for this work

Sport, Individual & Society

21 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Social connections are essential to health and well-being. However, when pursing social acceptance, people may sometimes engage in behavior that is detrimental to their health. Using a multi-time-point design, we examined whether the structure of an emerging network of students in an academic summer school program correlated with their physical health and mental well-being. Participants who were more central in the network typically experienced greater symptoms of illness (e.g., cold/flu symptoms), engaged in riskier health behaviors (e.g., binge drinking), and had higher physiological reactivity to a stressor. At the same time, they were happier, felt more efficacious, and perceived less stress in response to a strenuous math task. These outcomes suggest that social ties in an emerging network are associated with better mental well-being, but also with poorer physical health and health behaviors.

Original language	English
Journal	European Journal of Social Psychology
Volume	44
Issue number	6
Pages (from-to)	612-621
Number of pages	10
ISSN	0046-2772
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2030
Publication status	Published - 1 Jan 2014

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10.1002/ejsp.2030

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AU - Loschelder, David D.

AU - Weston, Dale

AU - Fransen, Katrien

AU - De Dominicis, Stefano

AU - Gallagher, S.

AU - Haslam, S. Alexander

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Happy but unhealthy: The relationship between social ties and health in an emerging network

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