Social interactions, loneliness and health: A new angle on an old debate

Elizabeth Casabianca and Matija Kovacic

No 1378, GLO Discussion Paper Series from Global Labor Organization (GLO)

Abstract: This paper investigates the relationship between historically rooted norms that drive individuals to adhere to predeftned behavioural standards and attitudes towards loneliness. Focusing on a sub-population of second-generation immigrants, we identify an intergenerationally transmitted component of culture that respects the importance of restrained discipline and rules characterising highly intensive pre-industrial agricultural systems. We illustrate how this cultural dimension impacts perceptions of the quality of social relationships and plays a substantial role in the likelihood of experiencing loneliness. Subsequently, we show the validity of the identifted trait as an instrument for loneliness in a two-stage model for health. We also ftnd that loneliness has a direct impact on body mass index and speciftc mental health issues, with these results being robust across a range of sensitivity checks. These ftndings contribute to the growing body of research emphasising the pivotal role of attitudes in predicting signiftcant economic and health outcomes, thus opening up a new pathway through which deeply-rooted geographical, cultural, and individual characteristics can influence comparative economic development processes in both origin and destination countries.

Keywords: loneliness; ancestral characteristics; social norms; health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D91 I12 I14 J14 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-soc and nep-ure
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:glodps:1378

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