Social Relationships and Mortality Risk: A Meta-analytic Review

Authors

Timothy Smith, Brigham Young University - ProvoFollow
Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Brigham Young UniversityFollow
J. Bradley Layton, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Keywords

Social relationships, mortality, health

Abstract

Background

The quality and quantity of individuals' social relationships has been linked not only to mental health but also to both morbidity and mortality.

Objectives

This meta-analytic review was conducted to determine the extent to which social relationships influence risk for mortality, which aspects of social relationships are most highly predictive, and which factors may moderate the risk.

Data Extraction

Data were extracted on several participant characteristics, including cause of mortality, initial health status, and pre-existing health conditions, as well as on study characteristics, including length of follow-up and type of assessment of social relationships.

Results

Across 148 studies (308,849 participants), the random effects weighted average effect size was OR = 1.50 (95% CI 1.42 to 1.59), indicating a 50% increased likelihood of survival for participants with stronger social relationships. This finding remained consistent across age, sex, initial health status, cause of death, and follow-up period. Significant differences were found across the type of social measurement evaluated (p<0.001); the association was strongest for complex measures of social integration (OR = 1.91; 95% CI 1.63 to 2.23) and lowest for binary indicators of residential status (living alone versus with others) (OR = 1.19; 95% CI 0.99 to 1.44).

Conclusions

The influence of social relationships on risk for mortality is comparable with well-established risk factors for mortality.

Original Publication Citation

Holt-Lunstad, J., Smith, T. B., & Layton, B. (2010). Social relationships and mortality risk: A meta-analytic review. PLoS Medicine, 7(7): e1000316. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000316

BYU ScholarsArchive Citation

Smith, Timothy; Holt-Lunstad, Julianne; and Layton, J. Bradley, "Social Relationships and Mortality Risk: A Meta-analytic Review" (2010). Faculty Publications. 7519.
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/facpub/7519

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2010

Publisher

PLOS Medicine

Language

English

College

David O. McKay School of Education

Department

Counseling Psychology and Special Education

University Standing at Time of Publication

Full Professor

Copyright Status

© 2010 Holt-Lunstad et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Copyright Use Information

https://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/