Brief encounters

In “Stand by Me: Social Ties and Health in Real Time,” recently published in the American Sociological Association’s open access, peer-reviewed journal Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World, Goldman and co-author Erin York Cornwell, an associate professor of sociology at Cornell University, reveal that the short-term dynamics of “social accompaniment” (being with others) have important implications for individuals’ health and well-being.

“This investigation allowed us to elucidate how health-relevant processes that unfold in real time may be distinct from the longer-term associations that are captured through more traditional survey measures,” said Goldman. “Our findings suggest that social accompaniment, particularly with non-family members, is associated with lower levels of real-time fatigue and stress, even when accounting for baseline measures of respondent social integration and overall health.

“In other words, we asked whether being co-present with a social tie is relevant for health in the moment. Do people feel better when they’re together?”

The researchers used smartphones to collect ecological momentary assessments, or EMAs, from nearly 350 older adults in the Chicago Health and Activity Space in Real-Time (CHART) study. Respondents carried the smartphones with them throughout their day-to-day activities, and were “pinged” five times per day to complete brief surveys that asked a number of questions about who they were with, how they felt, where they were, and their observations about their current social context in real time.

Over the course of three, one-week observation periods, these EMAs provided a glimpse into the dynamic and transitory aspects of social accompaniment in daily life. The results indicated that older adults who are in the company of friends or neighbors are significantly less likely to experience momentary fatigue and stress, suggesting that co-presence with a social tie has unique implications for short-term health outcomes.

The authors cite recent evidence that momentary health assessments can reveal physiological states that contribute to longer-term disease processes and mental health conditions. Stress, for example, can contribute over time to underlying conditions such as cardiovascular disease, while chronic stress can cause wear and tear on the body’s physiological capacity to regulate, and lead to heightened levels of inflammation, pain and fatigue.

“Whereas momentary symptoms are important given their link to longer-term conditions, they are also consequential in and of themselves, and in ways that may not be reflected in conventional summary measures of well-being,” they noted. “Moment-in-time experiences of pain and fatigue could limit an individual’s ability or willingness to pursue a particular activity, which could constrain participation in potentially health-enhancing social engagement. Likewise, fluctuations in these symptoms throughout the day could carry implications for accessing social and other resources, for example, whether one feels well enough to run an errand, attend religious services or a group activity, or provide some type of instrumental or emotional support to a friend or family member.”

Goldman underscored the study’s relevance in light of U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s recent advisory addressing the “epidemic of loneliness and isolation” affecting the country, in which he affirmed that social connection is as essential to humanity as food, water or shelter. Furthermore, he noted that humans have historically needed to rely on each other for survival, and today, people remain wired for that connection and for proximity to others.

“The unique value of being with a friend or neighbor is consistent with other research pointing to the growing importance of older adults’ non-kin and local ties,” she said. “Even day-to-day fluctuations in social isolation have implications for immediate health symptoms,” she said.

The research was funded by the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health.