Social connectedness may prove a stronger predictor of mental health than mental health of social connectedness.
The importance of overall social connectedness in aiding public mental health is well established. However, the direction of the relationship has been unclear – does poor social connectedness lead to psychological ill-health, or does psychological ill-health lead to a loss of social connectedness, which has been a dominant perspective in the field. In this large scale, longitudinal national study spanning four years and involving over 21,000 participants, researchers in New Zealand assessed the bi-directional longitudinal relationship between social connectedness and mental health, controlling for baseline levels of both. For each prospective year, social connectedness proved a stronger and more consistent predictor of mental health than mental health was of social connectedness. The authors highlight the importance of interventions which improve social connectedness and which help build new connections as a means for promoting mental health at a societal level.
doi.org/10.1177/0004867417723990
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