Social well-being: investigating the relation of social aspects to optical functioning in society

The perspective on human mental health has changed lately. For a long time, mental health was defined as the absence of mental disorders, investigating psychopathology of humans. Today, the focus on mental health as a positive state gained more attention. Mental health is fostered by the presence of psychological, emotional and social well-being, where emotional and psychological well-being have mostly been the center of attention. However, as optimal functioning in society (social well-being) is of great importance for mental health as well, the aim of the present study was to gain more insights in the association of social aspects with social well-being. In a representative Dutch sample (N=1,662) the relation of marital status, social contacts, social participation and social attitude to social, emotional and psychological well-being was investigated. Results showed positive correlations of social contacts, social participation and social attitude with social, emotional and psychological well-being, suggesting that theses aspects of social life are important for a persons optimal functioning in society as well as for someone’s optimal personal functioning and general life satisfaction and positive feelings. Marital status, however, showed no significant connection to social well-being, but a low positive correlation to psychological well-being and a low negative correlation to emotional well-being, indicating that marital status plays a more important role for a persons personal functioning and general life satisfaction than for optimal functioning in society.