Social ties and agency are known to be positively correlated with emotional well-being, but does one lead to the other, or are they independent but related? research done journal of positive psychology examines these three variables over 13 years to better explore their relationship.
Happiness has become a popular topic of research as psychology began to focus on how to lead a good and happy life. Not fully understood.
Social connections, especially having meaningful and supportive relationships, have been linked in previous research to positive mental health outcomes, including higher levels of well-being. Control is another factor related to happiness.
Nevertheless, there is a lack of understanding as to whether these relationships are unidirectional or bidirectional. This study aims to better understand the relationship between these three variables by utilizing longitudinal data.
“Several well-known theoretical perspectives provide valuable guidance on the essential elements of a good life, and two central to this field are social connections (social interaction and (perceived level of support from others) and agency (perceived ability to influence one’s living environment),” Dianne Vella-Brodrick and her colleagues explained in the study.
“However, the evidence as to whether these are best conceptualized as antecedents or outcomes of well-being remains to be determined. For agencies, most studies suggest that it acts as a predictor of well-being, but these claims are usually based on cross-sectional data that fail to adequately test directional relationships or It is based on statistical models. Current research seeks to address these limitations.”
Vella-Brodrick and her colleagues utilized data from a large, nationally representative longitudinal Australian sample. Data were used from her 22,980 participants. Data were collected annually, but for this study she utilized information from her four years over 13 years. 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2015. Participants completed measures of emotional well-being, agency, and social connectedness. Researchers are controlled for differences between individuals.
Results showed that higher levels of emotional well-being predicted higher levels of agency and social connection later in life. Both well-being and social connectedness were predicted at . In contrast, previous examples of increased social connections were not associated with participants’ future agency or emotional well-being.
This suggests that well-being and agency are highly influential factors that are interrelated and may lead to more positive aspects of life and mental health later in life. Connectivity emerged as a less important predictor in this study, but was an important variable for well-being in other studies.
“Together, these findings suggest that having a sense of control over one’s life and having high levels of emotional well-being are important for building social connections, and that social It suggests that it can actually predict the level of connection,” the researchers explained. “In the current study, emotional health was measured using a combination of four positive feeling items that focused on emotions: Energetic, Vibrant, Calm, Peaceful, Happy, and 5 Three negative emotion items affect mood: depressed, tired, tired and tense.”
“Consistent with the theory of expansion and construction (Fredrickson, 2001), it may be necessary to feel a certain level of happiness and energy in order to gain the confidence and ability to form social connections. involves having many friends and spending time with a wide variety of people, and personal importance.When this is established, social connection contributes to well-being, and happiness and social connection They may reinforce each other and create an upward spiral.”
This study has taken an important step towards a better understanding of the factors that can influence and be influenced by health. One of the limitations of this study is that the amount of data available for analysis was reduced by the fact that the longitudinal study only asked about his four-wave agency. Another limitation was that the measurements were constrained by the limitations of available data. Future research may include additional measures of well-being beyond just emotional well-being.
the study, “Long-term relationships between social ties, agency, and emotional well-being: A 13-year studywas written by Dianne Vella-Brodrick, Mohsen Joshanloo, and Gavin R. Slemp.
