Issues with Social Relationships and Health

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Issues with Social Relationships and Health Studies of mortality, which included social relationships as a metric, determined social relationships have a significant causal relationship to mortality. (Holt-Lunstad, Smith & Layton, 2010) More studies have been done on social relationships however; the mechanisms of how social relationships affect our health are still unclear. (2010) Relationships and their effect on health status continue to be an important area of research and analysis. Social relationships are a determinant which can be addressed at a community level. One key principle outlined by the Commission of European Communities report was not just looking at mortality rates, but also focusing on the quality of life during the years lived. (Laureate, 2011) House, Landis, and Umberson also showed that the effects of relationships or the lack thereof have relative risk factors close to that of tobacco use, obesity, and physical activity. (1988) This makes social relationships as important as smoking cessation programs, or diet and exercise. Recent data indicated that social relationships in industrialized nations are declining. (Holt-Lunstad, et al., 2010) This is a result of behaviors associated with a modern lifestyle; including increased mobility, delaying marriage or children, and work ethics. There is little time left to devote to the building or maintaining social relationships. Technology driven lifestyles continue to be the biggest barrier to a well-developed social network. Yet technology also provides an easy means of being in touch with more people than ever before. Apps like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram provide instant access to people and friends all over the world. I would like to create a campaign ... ... middle of paper ... ...velop social capital, building that social capital with familiar technology and behaviors. If successful, this change in perception and adopted behavior would create social change countering the decline in relationships. Works Cited Cao, Z., Chen, Y., Wang, S. (2014). Health belief model based evaluation of school health education programme for injury prevention among high school students in the community context. BMC Health, 14:26 doi:10.1186/1471-2458-14-26 Glanz, K., Rimer, B. K., & Viswanath, K. (Eds.). (2008). Health behavior and health education: Theory, research, and practice (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons. House, J.S., Landis, K.R., Umberson D. (1988). Social relationships and health. Science 241: 540–545. Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2011). Population health and issues in disease prevention. Baltimore, MD: Author.

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