The Positive Effects of Friends and Family on Health Behaviors, A Research Section

Some experts in the field have concluded that the health effect of social relationships may be as important as established risk factors such as smoking, physical activity, obesity and high blood pressure.

The last side of the health triangle is social health. Social health is your relationships and your reactions to the people around you. Social health is about having and maintaining friendships and relationships, getting along and working well with others, and giving and receiving support. Some ways to improve your social health are to join a sport , meet new people, and going out with friends. Some things that I do to improve my social health are going out with my friends to the movies. It helps us keep our relationship and gives us an opportunity to meet new people. Another thing I do is talk on the phone because it helps me make arrangements and keep in touch with family and friends that live far away.

“The social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life” (World Health Organisation (WHO), 2009). The social determinants of health can be divided into 5 categories, age, sex and hereditary factors, individual lifestyle factors, social and community networks, living and working conditions and general socioeconomic, cultural and

The three things that I learned in the social determinant of health presentation that I did not know before are marital statues, social support and accuses to resources linked to health.

M1-Assess how the social context may influence the ability of health campaigns to change behaviour in relations to health

The impact of loneliness on physical health can also be better understood by the study conducted by Uchino and colleagues (1996). They found that social individuals have lower blood pressure, better immunity and lower levels of stress hormones than the socially isolated people. In contrast another study described by Arthur 2006 demonstrated that it is not yet clear that group therapy or socialization can improve the secondary prevention of Coronary heart Disease. After considering all the studies and arguments by different authors it can be conclude that it is necessary to do more research on the impact of socialization on physical health of individuals.

High-quality social relationships, wherein people experience camaraderie and happiness, yield substantial health benefits. For instance, social ties such as marriage and religious involvement have been linked to healthier choices with diet and exercise, possibly because these connections promote positive behavioral norms (Umberson and Montez, 2010). High-quality social relationships also promote mental health by offering individuals a sense of place within a meaningful environment. When people feel connected and supported, they tend to experience a greater sense of control, a psychological state shown to be both associated and causally linked to good health (Lachman and Weaver, 1998). Positive psychological effects of social relationships improve physical health by making it easier for the body to maintain chemical homeostasis over long periods of time by alleviating its “allostatic load” (Umberson and Montez, 2010). Ultimately, these components of high-quality social relationships make people less likely to get sick and die.

Josh et al (2000) suggested that Social Capital was an important explanation regarding health issues. Supporting the theory that life chances are influenced by social environment and the people around us (Holborn, Burrage and Langley, 2009).

Kiderra ties this idea to being obese. She stats “if a person you consider a friend becomes obese […] your own chances of becoming obese go up 57 percent” (1). The bonds we make with others goes beyond mental, they can affect our physical appearance. Kiderra also goes on and explains that it isn’t our immediate family that has the greatest effect on us physiologically, but our friends. Also “further analysis also suggest that people’s influence on each other’s obesity status could not be put down just to similarities in lifestyle and environment” (1). We feel comfortable around people with the same trends as us not only in obesity, but any activity that makes us similar. This leads people to do what their friends or people around them

Definition of Health Promotion is increasing awareness, indentifying alternatives and influencing attitudes of the people, so that they can make an informed decision and change their behaviors to achieve an optimal level of mental, physical and social health. Health promotion is also defined as the process of empowering people to improve and take control of their health to optimize the quality of their lives. Ennis et al (2006) has explained health promotion as emotional, cognitive and behavioral endeavor to promote well being and health of the people. Davis (1995) expresses a deeper perspective in which preventive health science, social environment,

The social etiology of the disease depends on the underlying causes of the disease which is directly related to the risk factors adopted by the people for unhealthy behaviors. These causes and factors lie in the sociocultural environment. For example heart disease, the outcome of the disease is dependent on bad eating habits, excessive use of tobacco and sedentary lifestyle. All these are considered to be the environmental influences and the researchers are working on to change these factors with the aspect of health promotion (Glass & McAtee, 2006).

There are more than one billion overweigh adults in the world with at least three hundred of these adults being obese. In North America, obesity has increasingly become one of the most important public health problems (Flegal, Graubard, Williamson, & Gail 2005). With cases of obesity increasing, there has also been more exportation of research being done into the topic. Moreover, social, psychological and biological factors are being investigated to determine aspects that may influence the onset of obesity. This paper will focus on two specific domains of the biopsychosocial model of health with a focus on psychological and social factors that affect obesity.

It seems plausible to suggest that distal causes impact on health outcomes. Kroenke (2008) points out that, for instance, poor housing conditions are reflected in low health status both in short and long-term. As well as the distal materialistic aspect of social factors, other factors including social cohesion, group norms and social structures are also determinants of health as it is evident that such factors are particularly important for women especially in advance age (Blaxter, 2001). Due to the significant addition that studying social factors brings to understanding health, differences in social factors between groups have been extensively studied using various measures such as socioeconomic status.

I believe the proper theory to apply to this campaign would be the health belief model (HBM). I am planning this to be an educational campaign, motivating the target population to change behavior, and HBM has worked well in educational interventions. The HBM for example is great for interventions where self-efficacy is high, and a population seems to be motivated. (Glanz, Rimer, & Viswanath, 2008) The HBM theory focuses on the perception of a health threat, and the preventative behavior. (Cao, Chen, & Wang, 2014) The campaign would need to focus on the threat of declining relationships, and the preventative behavior (building relationships) necessary to counter the threat.

The main purpose of health promotion is to heighten people’s motivation to strive for optimal health, while assisting them in making lifestyle modifications that will help them advance their wellbeing to an ideal state. Modifications of the unfavorable way of living can be enabled through a