Biopsychosocial perspectives on close relationships

Lane Beckes

Chapter Chapter 19 in Research Handbook on Partnering across the Life Course, 2025, pp 228-239 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Interpersonal connection and relationship quality are stronger predictors of physical health than many factors widely recognized as major factors in health. This chapter takes a biopsychosocial perspective on why relationships are so intimately tied to physical health. In order to start to grapple with why this link is strong it is important to understand the basic neurobiological elements at play in both health and relationships. This starts with understanding stress, adaptation, and the role of hedonic and predictive brain processes in stress and adaptation. From there, the ways in which human adaptation to a social environment and the impact of that evolutionary heritage on shaping us can be directly tied to the manner in which we deal with challenges and adapt to changing circumstances. Because our ability to adapt depends so often and so intimately on the quality of our social environment, poor social relationships often predict wear and tear from chronic stress due to a lack of adaptation. Moreover, those who have high quality relationships are often buffered in times of stress and given aid that prevents that wear and tear, leading to better physical health over time. Perhaps the biggest area for growth in this domain of research involves approaches that directly study the question of relationships and health from multiple levels of analysis longitudinally. Large scale cooperative projects are called for in order to study how interpersonal dynamics, social networks, cognitive dynamics, and brain and biology change over time in a multi-level dynamic system.

Keywords: Interpersonal relationships; Neurobiology; Social allostasis; Health; Allostatic load (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781803923376
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