Social Networks and Subjective Wellbeing in Australia: New Evidence from a National Survey

Abstract

Abstract:The paper draws on data from a national survey in Australia in 2014 to examine how social networks affect life satisfaction and happiness. Findings show that social network composition, social attachment, perceived social support, and the volume of social resources are significantly positively associated with life satisfaction and happiness. Stress about social commitments, feeling restricted by social demands, and being excluded by a social group are negatively associated with life satisfaction and happiness. These results indicate that social networks have both 'bright side' and 'dark side' effects on subjective wellbeing.Keywords: Australia, happiness, life satisfaction, social networks, subjective wellbeing IntroductionAcross the social sciences, social networks have been found to play an important role in educational attainment (Furstenberg and Hughes, 1995), parenting (Hagan et al., 1996), crime reduction (Hagan and McCarthy, 1995) and employment (Authors, 2009; Authors, 2011; Authors, 2015). In recent years, social scientists and policy makers have asserted that social networks also matter for health and wellbeing (Christakis and Fowler, 2009;Huxhold et al., 2013). However, despite the ubiquity of the social network concept scholars have highlighted a number of problems with theoretical and empirical work (Durlauf and Fafchamps, 2005;Lin, 2001;Lyons, 2011). In this paper we introduce a new model for the relationship of social networks to subjective wellbeing (SWB) and present data from a national Australian survey to explore the model. Subjective wellbeing refers to people's evaluations of their own lives, including life satisfaction (a cognitive evaluation) and happiness (an affective evaluation) (Diener, 2006; Authors, 2017). In psychology, research on SWB was triggered by Brickman and Campbell (1971) who argued that most individuals had an equilibrium (set-point) level of SWB which was only temporarily disturbed by significant life events. The idea of a set-point dominated SWB research for nearly thirty years (Headey, 2007) but began to be undermined by evidence that certain events such as marriage (Gottman, 1996) or repeated unemployment (Clark et al., 2004) were associated with long-term changes in individuals' SWB. This led some (Headey, 2007) to argue that the study of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 F o r R e v i e w O n l y 2 SWB should concentrate on the factors leading to enduring changes in SWB such as having life goals linked to personal and social networks (e.g. family, friends, social participation). However, network research on subjective outcomes has remained comparatively uncommon (Hauberer, 2011; Authors, 2016a) and early influential social network research on SWB (Christakis and Fowler, 2009;Wilkinson, 2002;Helliwell, 2006) has also been convincingly criticised (Lyons, 2...

Fractured Families, Connected Community: Emotional Engagement in a Transnational Social Network

“…Echoing findings from previous research, Mariel, a 28-year-old Mexico-based respondent in the NSIT explains, "We talk about Through technology, we're able to feel closer." This finding illustrates the "dark side" of social network engagement (Huang et al, 2018), and may reflect distress due to heightened feelings of isolation or as a result of stresses associated with being unable to fulfil the emotional or financial needs of family members across borders. Likewise, we predicted that maintaining consistent communication with friends and family across the border would help mitigate some of the negative impacts of family separation, but the findings are not quite that straightforward.…”

“…Research about transnational care exchanges details how migrants both receive and offer care through social networks of immediate, extended and fictive kin within and across borders (Baldassar and Merla, 2014). Indeed, Huang et al (2018) refer to the "dark side" of social networks as they discuss the stresses of having to address social demands or, conversely, social exclusion. Though there are benefits associated with social networks, including transnational social networks, there are also drawbacks.…”

“…Heeding suggestions from previous research, that social network research should carefully detail how network position, network density and social network interaction affect outcomes (Verdery et al, 2018;Mouw et al, 2014;Huang et al 2018), we explore the possibility of a relationship between the social network and emotional distress by constructing a measure for contacts' average emotional distress, based on the reported distress levels among respondents' nominated network members who also participated in the study. Heeding suggestions from previous research, that social network research should carefully detail how network position, network density and social network interaction affect outcomes (Verdery et al, 2018;Mouw et al, 2014;Huang et al 2018), we explore the possibility of a relationship between the social network and emotional distress by constructing a measure for contacts' average emotional distress, based on the reported distress levels among respondents' nominated network members who also participated in the study.…”

“…Because the NSIT has data on the number of ties nominated by each individual within the network, the density of ties within the network and the frequency of contact among cross-border social ties, the data provide a unique view of the ways in which social networks can affect the experiences of family separation. Previous research with a nationally bounded social network has stressed that social network density or closeness, as well as frequent engagement with social ties, tends to enhance reported life satisfaction and happiness (Huang et al, 2018). In contrast, other studies with nationally bounded social networks have found that people only peripherally tied to social networks have a higher propensity for loneliness (Cacioppo et al, 2009) and depression (Rosenquist et al, 2010).…”

“…Previous research with a nationally bounded social network has stressed that social network density or closeness, as well as frequent engagement with social ties, tends to enhance reported life satisfaction and happiness (Huang et al, 2018). Previous research with a nationally bounded social network has stressed that social network density or closeness, as well as frequent engagement with social ties, tends to enhance reported life satisfaction and happiness (Huang et al, 2018).…”