Social Relationships and Health Behavior Across Life Course.

Sociological theory and research point to the importance of social relationships in affecting health behavior. This work tends to focus on specific stages of the life course, with a division between research on childhood/adolescent and adult populations. Yet recent advances demonstrate that early life course experiences shape health outcomes well into adulthood. We synthesize disparate bodies of research on social ties and health behavior throughout the life course, with attention to explaining how various social ties influence health behaviors at different life stages and how these processes accumulate and reverberate throughout the life course.

[1]  E. Durkheim.  Suicide: A Study in Sociology , 1897 .

[2]  L. Breslow,et al.  Health and Ways of Living: The Alameda County Study , 1983 .

[3]  J. House,et al.  Social relationships and health. , 1988, Science.

[4]  C. Ross,et al.  Social Causes of Psychological Distress , 1990 .

[5]  A. Vinokur,et al.  "In Sickness and in Health" , 1990 .

[6]  J. Schwartz,et al.  Mental health, stress, and poor health behaviors in two community samples. , 1991, Preventive medicine.

[7]  H. White,et al.  Becoming married, depression, and alcohol problems among young adults. , 1991, Journal of health and social behavior.

[8]  G. Kaplan.  Health and aging in the Alameda County Study , 1992 .

[9]  D. Umberson,et al.  Gender, marital status and the social control of health behavior. , 1992, Social science & medicine.

[10]  Audrey L. Begun,et al.  Human Behavior and the Social Environment , 1993 .

[11]  B. McEwen,et al.  Stress and the individual. Mechanisms leading to disease. , 1993, Archives of internal medicine.

[12]  J M Lepkowski,et al.  The social stratification of aging and health. , 1994, Journal of health and social behavior.

[13]  T. Seeman,et al.  Families and Health: the Negative Side of Social Ties , 1994 .

[14]  David R. Williams,et al.  Us socioeconomic and racial differences in health: patterns and explanations , 1995 .

[15]  Richard D. Rogers.  Marriage, sex, and mortality , 1995 .

[16]  Catherine E. Ross,et al.  The links between education and health. , 1995 .

[17]  H. Friedman,et al.  Childhood conscientiousness and longevity: health behaviors and cause of death. , 1995, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[18]  P. Thoits,et al.  Stress, coping, and social support processes: where are we? What next? , 1995, Journal of health and social behavior.

[19]  J. Hughes,et al.  An investigation of self-efficacy, partner support and daily stresses as predictors of relapse to smoking in self-quitters. , 1995, Addiction.

[20]  N. Breslau,et al.  Alcohol disorders in young adulthood: effects of transitions into adult roles. , 1996, Journal of health and social behavior.

[21]  M. Penning,et al.  “In Sickness and in Health” , 2003, The Hastings Center report.

[22]  S. Kasl,et al.  Religion among disabled and nondisabled persons I: cross-sectional patterns in health practices, social activities, and well-being. , 1997, The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences.

[23]  P. Bearman,et al.  Protecting adolescents from harm: Findings from the National Longitudinal Study on Adolescent Health. , 1997 .

[24]  Shelley E. Taylor,et al.  Health psychology: what is an unhealthy environment and how does it get under the skin? , 1997, Annual review of psychology.

[25]  S. Nock.  Marriage in men's lives , 1998 .

[26]  J. Grzywacz,et al.  Family Solidarity and Health Behaviors , 1999 .

[27]  Timothy J. Biblarz,et al.  Family Structure and Children's Success: A Comparison of Widowed and Divorced Single-Mother Families , 2000 .

[28]  H. Friedman,et al.  Long-term relations of personality and health: dynamisms, mechanisms, tropisms. , 2000, Journal of personality.

[29]  L. Waite,et al.  The Case for Marriage: Why Married People are Happier, Healthier, and Better off Financially , 2000 .

[30]  R. A. Johnson,et al.  Adolescent cigarette smoking in U.S. racial/ethnic subgroups: findings from the National Education Longitudinal Study. , 2000, Journal of health and social behavior.

[31]  M. Kerr,et al.  Parental monitoring: a reinterpretation. , 2000, Child development.

[32]  M. Farrell,et al.  The Effects of Parenting on the Development of Adolescent Alcohol Misuse: A Six-Wave Latent Growth Model. , 2000 .

[33]  Laurie Chassin,et al.  Peer Influence on Adolescent Alcohol Use: The Moderating Role of Parental Support and Discipline , 2000 .

[34]  E. Crimmins,et al.  The Significance of Socioeconomic Status in Explaining the Racial Gap in Chronic Health Conditions , 2000, American Sociological Review.

[35]  W. Courtenay.  Constructions of masculinity and their influence on men's well-being: a theory of gender and health. , 2000, Social science & medicine.

[36]  Margie E. Lachman,et al.  Social Support and Strain from Partner, Family, and Friends: Costs and Benefits for Men and Women in Adulthood , 2000 .

[37]  L. Berkman,et al.  From social integration to health: Durkheim in the new millennium. , 2000, Social science & medicine.

[38]  J. Kiecolt-Glaser,et al.  Marriage and health: his and hers. , 2001, Psychological bulletin.

[39]  W. Strawbridge,et al.  Religious attendance increases survival by improving and maintaining good health behaviors, mental health, and social relationships , 2001, Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine.

[40]  J. Mortimer,et al.  Arenas of Comfort in Adolescence: A Study of Adjustment in Context , 2001 .

[41]  G. Paton-Simpson.  Socially Obligatory Drinking: A Sociological Analysis of Norms Governing Minimum Drinking Levels , 2001 .

[42]  L. Johnston,et al.  The Decline of Substance Use in Young Adulthood: Changes in Social Activities, Roles, and Beliefs , 2001 .

[43]  P. Bearman,et al.  Promising the Future: Virginity Pledges and First Intercourse1 , 2001, American Journal of Sociology.

[44]  J. House,et al.  Social isolation kills, but how and why? , 2001, Psychosomatic medicine.

[45]  R B Williams,et al.  Characteristics of Socially Isolated Patients With Coronary Artery Disease Who Are at Elevated Risk for Mortality , 2001, Psychosomatic medicine.

[46]  Karl E. Bauman,et al.  Parent‐Child Communication About Adolescent Tobacco and Alcohol Use: What Do Parents Say and Does It Affect Youth Behavior? , 2001 .

[47]  A. Pienta,et al.  It Takes Two , 2002, Journal of aging and health.

[48]  J. Tucker.  Health-related social control within older adults' relationships. , 2002, The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences.

[49]  V. Hasselblad,et al.  Benefits of smoking cessation for longevity. , 2002, American journal of public health.

[50]  E. M. Hetherington,et al.  For Better or for Worse: Divorce Reconsidered , 2002 .

[51]  Shelley E. Taylor,et al.  Risky families: family social environments and the mental and physical health of offspring. , 2002, Psychological bulletin.

[52]  Ronald Glaser,et al.  Depression and immune function: central pathways to morbidity and mortality. , 2002, Journal of psychosomatic research.

[53]  The influence of parental separation on smoking initiation in adolescents. , 2002, Journal of health and social behavior.

[54]  R. Jeffery,et al.  Cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between body mass index and marriage-related factors. , 2002, Obesity research.

[55]  Burton H. Singer,et al.  Social Relationships, Gender, and Allostatic Load Across Two Age Cohorts , 2002, Psychosomatic medicine.

[56]  P. Williams-Russo,et al.  The case for more active policy attention to health promotion. , 2002, Health affairs.

[57]  B. Singer,et al.  Allostatic load as a predictor of functional decline. MacArthur studies of successful aging. , 2002, Journal of clinical epidemiology.

[58]  D. Umberson.  Death of a parent: Transition to a new adult identity , 2003 .

[59]  R. Wiebe,et al.  The moderation of adolescent-to-peer similarity in tobacco and alcohol use by school levels of substance use. , 2003, Child development.

[60]  Erika S. Trapl,et al.  Parental monitoring, negotiated unsupervised time, and parental trust: the role of perceived parenting practices in adolescent health risk behaviors. , 2003, The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine.

[61]  Jeffery Sobal,et al.  Commensal eating patterns: a community study , 2003, Appetite.

[62]  K. Evenson,et al.  The effects of widowhood on physical and mental health, health behaviors, and health outcomes: The Women's Health Initiative. , 2003, Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association.

[63]  David R. Williams.  The health of men: structured inequalities and opportunities. , 2003, American journal of public health.

[64]  P. Vitaliano,et al.  Is caregiving hazardous to one's physical health? A meta-analysis. , 2003, Psychological bulletin.

[65]  A. Stunkard,et al.  Depression and obesity , 2003, Biological Psychiatry.

[66]  E. Frongillo,et al.  Marital status changes and body weight changes: a US longitudinal analysis. , 2003, Social science & medicine.

[67]  Robert Crosnoe,et al.  The Emergence and Development of Life Course Theory , 2003 .

[68]  J. H. Hoffman,et al.  Jocks, Gender, Race, and Adolescent Problem Drinking , 2003, Journal of drug education.

[69]  J. Kassel,et al.  Smoking, stress, and negative affect: correlation, causation, and context across stages of smoking. , 2003, Psychological bulletin.

[70]  Ross C Brownson,et al.  The epidemiology of walking for physical activity in the United States. , 2003, Medicine and science in sports and exercise.

[71]  R. Thorpe,et al.  The life course of severe obesity: does childhood overweight matter? , 2003, The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences.

[72]  Kristi Williams.  The transition to widowhood and the social regulation of health: consequences for health and health risk behavior. , 2004, The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences.

[73]  M. Elliott,et al.  Social control of health behaviors: a comparison of young, middle-aged, and older adults. , 2004, The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences.

[74]  Sheldon Cohen.  Social relationships and health. , 2004, The American psychologist.

[75]  J. Ludwig,et al.  The Endogeneity Problem in Developmental Studies , 2004 .

[76]  S. Bianchi,et al.  Exercise Time: Gender Differences in the Effects of Marriage, Parenthood, and Employment , 2004 .

[77]  Truls Østbye,et al.  Number of children associated with obesity in middle-aged women and men: results from the health and retirement study. , 2004, Journal of women's health.

[78]  Bert N. Uchino,et al.  Social Support and Physical Health: Understanding the Health Consequences of Relationships , 2004 .

[79]  Laurence Steinberg,et al.  Parental influences on adolescent problem behavior: revisiting Stattin and Kerr. , 2004, Child development.

[80]  P. Bearman,et al.  Suicide and friendships among American adolescents. , 2004, American journal of public health.

[81]  D. Umberson,et al.  Marital Status, Marital Transitions, and Health: A Gendered Life Course Perspective∗ , 2004, Journal of health and social behavior.

[82]  K. Frank,et al.  Peer Context and the Consequences of Adolescent Drinking , 2004 .

[83]  N. Anderson,et al.  Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Health Behaviors: A Challenge to Current Assumptions , 2004 .

[84]  V. Helgeson,et al.  Spouse Social Control Efforts: Relations to Health Behavior and Well-Being among Men with Prostate Cancer , 2004 .

[85]  T. Baker,et al.  Motivational influences on cigarette smoking. , 2004, Annual review of psychology.

[86]  W. M. Ensel,et al.  Physical Fitness and the Stress Process. , 2004 .

[87]  Megan A. Lewis,et al.  The conceptualization and assessment of health-related social control , 2004 .

[88]  Megan A. Lewis,et al.  Antecedents and Reactions to Health-Related Social Control , 2005, Personality & social psychology bulletin.

[89]  Leonard I. Pearlin,et al.  Stress, Health, and the Life Course: Some Conceptual Perspectives∗ , 2005, Journal of health and social behavior.

[90]  J. McLeod,et al.  The Social Psychology of Health Disparities , 2005 .

[91]  Garrett Fitzmaurice,et al.  Effects of marital transitions on changes in dietary and other health behaviours in US male health professionals , 2004, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

[92]  J. Allen,et al.  The two faces of adolescents' success with peers: adolescent popularity, social adaptation, and deviant behavior. , 2005, Child development.

[93]  James Jaccard,et al.  Peer influences on risk behavior: an analysis of the effects of a close friend. , 2005, Developmental psychology.

[94]  Susan T Ennett,et al.  Neighborhood Influences on Adolescent Cigarette and Alcohol Use: Mediating Effects through Parent and Peer Behaviors∗ , 2005, Journal of health and social behavior.

[95]  John Bound,et al.  "Weathering" and age patterns of allostatic load scores among blacks and whites in the United States. , 2006, American journal of public health.

[96]  K. Harris,et al.  The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) Twin Data , 2006, Twin Research and Human Genetics.

[97]  Karl E. Bauman,et al.  The Peer Context of Adolescent Substance Use: Findings from Social Network Analysis , 2006 .

[98]  Genes, Behavior, and the Social Environment , 2006 .

[99]  Dianne Neumark-Sztainer,et al.  Parent-child connectedness and behavioral and emotional health among adolescents. , 2006, American journal of preventive medicine.

[100]  B. Uchino.  Social Support and Health: A Review of Physiological Processes Potentially Underlying Links to Disease Outcomes , 2006, Journal of Behavioral Medicine.

[101]  Petter Lundborg,et al.  Having the wrong friends? Peer effects in adolescent substance use. , 2006, Journal of health economics.

[102]  J. Hoffmann.  Extracurricular Activities, Athletic Participation, and Adolescent Alcohol Use: Gender-Differentiated and School-Contextual Effects∗ , 2006, Journal of health and social behavior.

[103]  Dana L. Haynie,et al.  Parenting Practices and Adolescents Friendship Networks. , 2006 .

[104]  Robert Crosnoe.  The Connection Between Academic Failure and Adolescent Drinking in Secondary School , 2006, Sociology of education.

[105]  B. Gorman,et al.  Gender Disparities in Adult Health: An Examination of Three Measures of Morbidity∗ , 2006, Journal of health and social behavior.

[106]  M. Friedman,et al.  Body Weight and the Quality of Interpersonal Relationships , 2006 .

[107]  M. Elliott,et al.  Affective and behavioral responses to health-related social control. , 2006, Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association.

[108]  M. Gaughan.  The Gender Structure of Adolescent Peer Influence on Drinking∗ , 2006, Journal of health and social behavior.

[109]  L. Goossens,et al.  Parenting and adolescent problem behavior: an integrated model with adolescent self-disclosure and perceived parental knowledge as intervening variables. , 2006, Developmental psychology.

[110]  Sarah O. Meadows.  Evidence of Parallel Pathways: Gender Similarity in the Impact of Social Support on Adolescent Depression and Delinquency , 2007 .

[111]  Martin Pinquart,et al.  Correlates of physical health of informal caregivers: a meta-analysis. , 2007, The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences.

[112]  John Wilson,et al.  Volunteers: A Social Profile , 2007 .

[113]  D. Capaldi,et al.  Substance use risk across three generations: the roles of parent discipline practices and inhibitory control. , 2007, Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors.

[114]  N. Christakis,et al.  The Spread of Obesity in a Large Social Network Over 32 Years , 2007, The New England journal of medicine.

[115]  Megan A. Lewis,et al.  Social control in marital relationships: effect of one's partner on health behaviors , 2007 .

[116]  R. Rhodes,et al.  A birth of inactivity? A review of physical activity and parenthood. , 2008, Preventive medicine.

[117]  J. Hewitt,et al.  Do Schools Moderate the Genetic Determinants of Smoking? , 2008, Behavior genetics.

[118]  David R. Williams.  Racial/ethnic variations in women's health: the social embeddedness of health. , 2002, American journal of public health.

[119]  N. Christakis,et al.  Social Networks and Health , 2008 .

[120]  Religion, health, and health behavior. , 2008 .

[121]  J. Eccles,et al.  Adolescent pathways to adulthood drinking: sport activity involvement is not necessarily risky or protective. , 2008, Addiction.

[122]  G. Guo,et al.  The Integration of Genetic Propensities into Social-Control Models of Delinquency and Violence among Male Youths , 2008 .

[123]  Steven A. Haas.  Trajectories of functional health: the 'long arm' of childhood health and socioeconomic factors. , 2008, Social science & medicine.

[124]  E. Turkheimer,et al.  Gene-Environment Correlation and Interaction in Peer Effects on Adolescent Alcohol and Tobacco Use , 2008, Behavior genetics.

[125]  P. Gordon-Larsen,et al.  Entry Into Romantic Partnership Is Associated With Obesity , 2009, Obesity.

[126]  J. A. Druley,et al.  Affective and behavioural reactions to positive and negative health-related social control in HIV+men , 2009, Psychology & health.

[127]  D. Umberson,et al.  Marital Status, Marital Transitions, and Body Weight∗ , 2009, Journal of health and social behavior.

[128]  Bing Han,et al.  Marijuana Use and High School Dropout: The Influence of Unobservables , 2008, Health economics.

[129]  P. England,et al.  Cleaning up their act: The effects of marriage and cohabitation on licit and illicit drug use , 2006, Demography.

[130]  A. Palloni.  Reproducing inequalities: Luck, wallets, and the enduring effects of childhood health , 2006, Demography.

[131]  B. Gorman,et al.  The long arm of childhood: The influence of early-life social conditions on men’s mortality , 2004, Demography.