What is Social Health?
Social well-being is a very important part in creating and maintaining a balanced and healthy lifestyle. Just think back to 42
a difficult time in your life…. did it make it better knowing that you had the support, consideration and encouragement from a strong social network?
Some components of social wellness include:
• The caring and healthy relationships you have in your life.
• Your social networks, such as what clubs and/or organizations you belong to.
• Your level of safety.
• Your housing situation.
• Your level of interdependence, and if you are willing to accept and give help to other people.
• Positive interactions with your community (i.e. volunteer work).
• Your acceptance of diversity. This means accepting people regardless of their ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, ability or religion. Students may become so overwhelmed with school that you neglect this part of your 43
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well-being. Just remember that your connection to your friends, family and community is important in maintaining balance in your day-to-day life.
The concept of social health is less intuitively familiar than that of physical or mental health, and yet, along with physical and mental health, it forms one of the three pillars of most definitions of health. This is partly because social health can refer both to a characteristic of a society, and of individuals. “A society is healthy when there is equal opportunity for all and access by all to the goods and services essential to fully function as a citizen”. Indicators of the health of a society might include the existence of the rule of law, equality in the distribution of wealth, public accessibility of the decision making process, and the level of social capital.
The social health of individuals refers to “that dimension of an individual’s well-being that concerns how he gets along with other people, how other people react to him and how he interacts with social institutions and societal mores”.
This definition is broad—it incorporates elements of personality and social skills, reflects social norms, and bears a close relationship to concepts such as “well-being,”
“adjustment,” and “social functioning.”
Formal consideration of social health was stimulated in 1947 by its inclusion in the World Health Organization’s definition of health, and by the resulting emphasis on treating patients as social beings who live in a complex social context. Social health has also become relevant with the increasing evidence that those who are well integrated into 44
their communities tend to live longer and recover faster from disease. Conversely, social isolation has been shown to be a risk factor for illness. Hence, social health may be defined in terms of social adjustment and social support—or the ability to perform normal roles in society.
Mutual social support is also commonly viewed as an aspect of social health. Support attenuates the effects of stress and reduces the incidence of disease. Social support also contributes to positive adjustment in children and adults, and encourages personal growth. The concept of support underlines the theme of social health as an attribute of a society: a sense of community—or the currently fashionable concept of social capital, which refers to the extent to which there is a feeling of mutual trust and reciprocity in a community—is an important indicator of social health.
It is important to be socially accepted in the community in which you live, work and play. Being able to adapt in various social situations could very well mean the difference between being included or excluded from the group.
Sometimes people feel like outcast in social situations because, they were not taught proper social skills when they were growing up. Parents need to teach their children how to behave in social situations, so that when they reach adulthood, they are well adjusted to these social environments.
My Story: I have found that over the years, my social health has increased. My social health in college was excellent but it decreased after graduate school. I became 45
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somewhat introverted and preferred to be a homebody instead of a social butterfly. Within the past couple of years I have become more social by necessity as well as by desire. I have enjoyed the interaction with other people for the most part. I find that I like being in the company of people who have a similar mindset or goals as I do. I am drawn to driven, goal oriented, self-motivated, and energetic people more than to people who have no direction, dreams or desires.
No matter what anyone may say, we all need people in our lives and just want to be loved and accepted by others. In this age of technology, we must not forget the importance of verbal communication.
The next section deals with issues concerning the body, which include physical and environmental health. Physical health is what most people think about when someone asks them how they are doing? Or when we think about our health, we automatically think physical. Then we will view what environmental health is all about and how it relates to the body.
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