Social connection (social capital, social cohesion, community connection)

What is this domain – and what does it tell us about wellbeing?

Social connection is critical for wellbeing. People who experience long term severe loneliness have poorer physical and mental health, with a large number of studies finding that loneliness should be considered a significant risk to health (e.g. Park et al. 2020). Having good social connections, meanwhile, has been found to have many benefits for wellbeing. People give and receive support, share knowledge and skills, and overall benefit from being part of social networks. Social networks here means everything from close networks of friends and family, to ‘loose’ networks of community groups and organisations, and even social contact at community events.

Social connection and the benefits it brings are measured in many ways. These including measuring the number and type of social networks a person engages with; the extent to which a person can receive and provide support through their social networks; and levels of loneliness. Social connection is closely related to social cohesion, which measures whether social connection is resulting in community wide sense of belonging, trust and mutual support, as well as whether there are challenges to social cohesion such as disagreement or social conflict. Unfortunately, very few of these are regularly measured in surveys that produce data for smaller communities, meaning there is often limited data available from existing sources.

Park, C., Majeed, A., Gill, H., Tamura, J., Ho, R.C., Mansur, R.B., Nasri, F., Lee, Y., Rosenblat, J.D., Wong, E. and McIntyre, R.S., 2020. The effect of loneliness on distinct health outcomes: a comprehensive review and meta-analysis. Psychiatry research, 294, p.113514.

Connections to other domains

Many measures of Belonging and social cohesion are also considered to be measures of social connection, or are outcomes of having good social connection. So are some of the indicators considered in Civic engagement and local action. As experiences of equity and inclusion impact on social connection, Equity and inclusion indicators are also often strongly related to experiences of social connection.

Indicator options

• Access to support from personal social networks
• Loneliness
• Social isolation
• Volunteering & giving time to the community
• Getting involved in community activities