OBJECTIVE This study tested associations between church-based instrumental and informational social support and meeting physical activity guidelines. METHODS Cross-sectional data were analyzed for 1625 rural residents using logistic regression. RESULTS Associations were found between instrumental social support and performing some amount of physical activity but not between the 2 forms of s...

BACKGROUND Little is known of the importance of social support in the associations between psychological distress and somatic health problems and socio-economic factors among older adults living at home. The objectives of the present study were to investigate the associations of social support, somatic health problems and socio-economic factors with psychological distress. We also examined chan...

STUDY OBJECTIVE The aim of this paper is to explore the association between social capital and self-rated health in different European countries. METHODS For the cross sectional, comparative analyses data from 21 European countries were used. 40,856 people aged 15 years and older were personally interviewed in 2003 (European Social Survey). Perceptions of social trust, and membership, partici...

BACKGROUND In communal mammals the levels of social interaction among group members vary considerably. In recent years, biologists have realized that within-group interactions may affect survival of the group members. Several recent studies have demonstrated that the social integration of adult females is positively associated with infant survival, and female longevity is affected by the streng...

The existence of discrete social clusters, or 'communities', is a common feature of social networks in human and nonhuman animals. The level of such community structure in networks is typically measured using an index of modularity, Q. While modularity quantifies the degree to which individuals associate within versus between social communities and provides a useful measure of structure in the ...

OBJECTIVES In this exploratory study we examined the associations between several social network characteristics and lifestyle behaviours in adults at increased risk of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. In addition, we explored whether similarities in lifestyle between individuals and their network members, or the level of social support perceived by these individuals, could explain these a...

OBJECTIVES We aimed to examine the associations of both objectively assessed and perceived physical and social neighborhood characteristics with happiness in European adults. In addition, we aimed to study how these associations differed among subgroups. METHODS Participants (N = 6037) of the cross-sectional SPOTLIGHT survey reported on their level of happiness using a 5-point Likert scale, a...

Rural communities make up much of America's heartland, yet we know little about their social organization, and how elements of their social organization relate to crime rates. The current study sought to remedy this gap by examining the associations between two measures of social organization - collective efficacy and social trust - with a number of structural community characteristics, local c...