Ritchie-Dunham James L, Yancey George, Managi Shunsuke, Bartel Caroline, Bonhag Rebecca, Padgett R Noah, Shiba Koichiro, Johnson Byron R, VanderWeele Tyler J
Rosenthal Department of Management, McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
Human Flourishing Program, Institute for Quantitative Social Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Sci Rep. 2025 Jul 11;15(1):25068. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-09953-5.
An extensive research literature describes how close social connections (CSC) comprising both intimate friends and relatives and friends who help when in trouble are one of the most significant predictors of improved well-being outcomes, approximately equivalent to a 5-fold increase in income, in some contexts. However, less is known about childhood predictors of adulthood CSC, including what childhood factors have potency across diverse cultural settings. We use data from a diverse sample of 202,898 individuals across 22 countries to evaluate the influence of several childhood factors on CSC in adulthood (mean age = 42.3 years, SD 15.9, range 18-99). Childhood predictors associated with increased CSC include physical health, family financial status, maternal and paternal relationships, and religious service attendance. Childhood predictors associated with decreased CSC include poor heath, being an outsider in the family, unmarried parents, and very difficult financial status of the family. The strength of these associations varies by country, reflecting diverse societal influences, ranging, for example, from a strong positive association to as strong a negative association or twice as strong a positive association (e.g., Relationship to Mother ranged from meta-analytic mean of β = 0.47 to β=-0.35 in one country and β = 0.93 in another). We use multivariate regression analysis and E-values to check the robustness of the findings against potential unmeasured confounds. The findings enhance our understanding of childhood predictors of adult levels of CSC, providing valuable evidence for practical interventions and policy for developing early childhood intervention approaches to promoting the CSC that impact whole-human well-being. These interventions should consider multiple childhood factors relevant to enhancing close social connections in adulthood and should be attuned to the cultural context and patterns of inequality within countries.
大量研究文献表明，由亲密朋友、亲戚以及在困难时提供帮助的朋友所构成的紧密社会联系（CSC）是幸福感提升的最重要预测因素之一，在某些情况下，其影响力约相当于收入增长5倍。然而，对于成年期CSC的童年预测因素，包括哪些童年因素在不同文化背景下具有影响力，我们了解得较少。我们使用来自22个国家的202,898名个体的多样化样本数据，来评估若干童年因素对成年期CSC的影响（平均年龄 = 42.3岁，标准差15.9，范围18 - 99岁）。与CSC增加相关的童年预测因素包括身体健康、家庭经济状况、父母关系以及参加宗教活动。与CSC减少相关的童年预测因素包括健康状况不佳、在家庭中被边缘化、父母未婚以及家庭经济状况极为困难。这些关联的强度因国家而异，反映了不同的社会影响，例如，从强正相关到强负相关，或者正相关强度是原来的两倍（例如，与母亲的关系，在一个国家的元分析均值β从0.47到β = -0.35，在另一个国家则为β = 0.93）。我们使用多元回归分析和E值来检验研究结果对潜在未测量混杂因素的稳健性。这些发现增进了我们对成年期CSC水平的童年预测因素的理解，为制定促进CSC的幼儿干预方法提供了有价值的实践干预和政策证据，而CSC会影响整个人类的幸福感。这些干预措施应考虑与增强成年期紧密社会联系相关的多个童年因素，并应适应各国的文化背景和不平等模式。
