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Role of Social Relationship in Predicting Health in China

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Abstract

There is increasing acknowledgement of social relationship as an important determinant of health. However, most evidence comes from developed countries, and the question of whether social relationship can predict health in developing countries remains poorly understood. This paper empirically examined how social relationships influence health in China. Data was collected from the Chinese Household Income Project, contained around 5000 migrant households, 8000 rural households and 5000 urban households. Self-reported general health and psychological health which was assessed by General Health Questionnaire. Social relationship was positively associated with health and psychological health, although the indices varied in strength. Social support, social connectedness and trust operated differently in predicting health in the three populations. The findings supported that social relationship influences health through both a stress-buffering process (helping people to cope with stress) and a main-effect process (promoting positive psychological states or healthy behaviors irrespective of stress). Among all the measures, neighborhood relationship satisfaction as one variable to capture social connectedness and generalized trust showed a stable and sizable effect in predicting health across the three populations, suggesting that neighborhood ties and generalized trust are important supportive resources for Chinese.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. USC-SJTU Institute of Cultural and Creative Industry, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dong Chuan Road, Shanghai, China

    Yi Xu

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  1. Yi Xu
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Correspondence to Yi Xu.

Appendices

Appendix 1: General Health Questionnaire

Have you ever had any of the following feelings in the last few weeks?

1. Been able to concentrate on whatever you are doing

①Better than usual ②Same as usual ③Less than usual ④Much less than usual

2. Lost much sleep over worry

①Not at all ② No more than usual ③Rather more than usual ④Much more than usual

3. Felt that you are playing a useful part in things

①More so than usual ②Same as usual ③Less so than usual ④Much less than usual

4. Felt capable of making decisions about things

①More so than usual ②Same as usual ③Less so than usual ④Much less than usual

5. Felt constantly under strain

①Not at all ②No more than usual ③Rather more than usual ④Much more than usual

6. Felt you couldn’t overcome your difficulties

①Not at all ②No more than usual ③Rather more than usual ④Much more than

7. Been able to enjoy your normal day to day activities

①More so than usual ②Same as usual ③Less so than usual ④Much less than usual

8. Been able to face up to your problems

①More so than usual ②Same as usual ③Less so than usual ④Much less than usual

9. Been feeling unhappy and depressed

①Not at all ②No more than usual ③Rather more than usual ④Much more than usual

10. Been losing confidence in yourself

①Not at all ②No more than usual ③Rather more than usual ④Much more than usual

11. Been thinking of yourself as a worthless person

①Not at all ②No more than usual ③Rather more than usual ④Much more than usual

12. Been feeling reasonably happy, all things considered

①More so than usual ②Same as usual ③Less so than usual ④Much less than usual

Appendix 2: Missing Data

See Table 6.

Table 6 The numbers and proportions of missing data for each independent variable
Full size table

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Xu, Y. Role of Social Relationship in Predicting Health in China. Soc Indic Res 141, 669–684 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-017-1822-y

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