Social connectedness improves public mental health: Investigating bidirectional relationships in the New Zealand attitudes and values survey

Abstract

Background: The importance of social connectedness in supporting public mental health is well established. However, the reverse causal pathway (that psychological ill-health leads to reduced social connectedness) remains a dominant perspective among mental health practitioners. Our analysis aimed to provide a rigorous test of the directionality of this relationship. Method:A cross-lagged panel analysis of a large longitudinal national probability sample (N ≈ 21,227), the New Zealand Attitudes and Values Survey (NZAVS), was used to assess the bidirectional longitudinal relationship between social connectedness and mental health, controlling for baseline levels of both variables and demographics.Results: Social connectedness was found to be a stronger and more consistent predictor of mental health year-on-year than mental health was of social connectedness. Conclusion:These results further demonstrate how the psychological resources conferred by social connectedness can act as a 'social cure' for psychological ill-health, and provide the strongest evidence to date for the direction of this relationship in the general community.Keywords: social connectedness; mental health; psychological distress; social capital; depression; wellbeing. Social connectedness improves mental health | 3 Social Connectedness Improves Public Mental Health: Investigating Bidirectional Relationships in the New Zealand Attitudes and Values SurveySocial connectedness is critical for good health. People with limited social connectedness have poorer mental and physical health, including increased depression (Cruwys, Haslam, Dingle, Haslam, & Jetten, 2014a), and die earlier than those with strong social connectedness (for a meta-analysis, see Holt-Lunstad, Smith, & Layton, 2010). There is widespread consensus in the public health and epidemiology literatures that social connectedness causally protects and promotes mental health (Kawachi & Berkman, 2001;Perkins, Subramanian, & Christakis, 2015).However, models that specify the reverse causal relationship are also common among clinicians; the loss of social connectedness is frequently described as a consequence of mental illness.Indeed, a key diagnostic criterion of Major Depressive Disorder is that symptoms "cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational or other important areas of functioning" (emphasis added, p. 161, American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013). This tension between the two perspectives remains unresolved despite an emerging body of longitudinal work, partly due to the lack of a simultaneous test of the bidirectional relationships that may robustly demonstrate the direction of the causal effect between social connectedness and mental health.1 In this paper we address this tension, testing whether social connectedness is the better predictor of mental health over time than the converse. Social connectedness and mental healthThe focal emphasis of research on social connectedness and mental health has differed somewhat between public health...

Minority stress, social support, and the mental health of lesbian, gay, and bisexual Australians during the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey

“…There is growing evidence that the perceived availability of social support, in particular emotional support (e.g., a social network's provisions of empathy and acceptance; Cohen, 2004), protects and promotes mental health (Kawachi & Berkman, 2001;Marroquín, 2011). For example, in a recent longitudinal survey, Saeri, Cruwys, Barlow, Stronge, and Sibley (2018) found perceived acceptance and validation from one's social network to be a consistent causal predictor of reduced psychological distress amongst a large national probability sample of New Zealand adults. Perceived emotional support has also been associated with lower levels of depression and anxiety in lesbians (Lehavot & Simoni, 2011) and gay men (Heywood & Lyons, 2016).…”

“…Consistent with the minority stress model (Meyer, 2003), personal support in the form of perceived acceptance from one's immediate social network varies between individual members of the LGB population (Dane & MacDonald, 2009). Specifically, past research has not typically distinguished between distinct levels of social support (e.g., Heywood & Lyons, 2016;Pascoe & Smart Richman, 2009;Saeri et al, 2018), or has only focused on either personal support (e.g., Dane & MacDonald, 2009;Doty et al, 2010;Lehavot & Simoni, 2011;Perales & Todd, 2018) or public support (Davis et al, 2014). Although theoretical models of social support and mental health commonly differentiate between personal and public support (e.g., Almedom, 2005;Meyer, 2003), this distinction has seldom been addressed in the empirical literature.…”

“…Although theoretical models of social support and mental health commonly differentiate between personal and public support (e.g., Almedom, 2005;Meyer, 2003), this distinction has seldom been addressed in the empirical literature. Specifically, past research has not typically distinguished between distinct levels of social support (e.g., Heywood & Lyons, 2016;Pascoe & Smart Richman, 2009;Saeri et al, 2018), or has only focused on either personal support (e.g., Dane & MacDonald, 2009;Doty et al, 2010;Lehavot & Simoni, 2011;Perales & Todd, 2018) or public support (Davis et al, 2014).…”

A confirmatory study of the relations between workplace sexism, sense of belonging, mental health, and job satisfaction among women in male‐dominated industries

“…Notably, there is already longitudinal evidence that (a) sexism causes poorer mental health and job satisfaction (Glomb, Munson, Hulin, Bergman, & Drasgow, 1999;Munson, Hulin, & Drasgow, 2000;Rinehart, Espelage, & Bub, 2017), and that (b) sense of belonging (social connectedness) causes better mental health (Saeri et al, 2017). However, similar longitudinal evidence is missing in regards to job satisfaction.…”

“…Poorer sense of belonging and social connectedness have also been found to be related to poorer mental health (Hagerty, Williams, Coyne, & Early, ; Rubin & Kelly, ; Rubin et al, ; Saeri, Cruwys, Barlow, Stronge, & Sibley, ; Stebleton, Soria, & Huesman, ), most likely due to feelings of loneliness, alienation, and ostracism (Mellor, Stokes, Firth, Hayashi, & Cummins, ). In addition, poorer sense of belonging at work is also associated with lower job satisfaction (e.g., Borrott, Day, Sedgwick, & Levett‐Jones, ; Skaalvik & Skaalvik, ; Van Dick et al, ; Van Dick, van Knippenberg, Kerschreiter, Hertel, & Wieseke, ; Winter‐Collins & McDaniel, ).…”