Social Connection Constellations and Individual Well-Being Typologies: Using the Loglinear Modeling Approach with Latent Variables

Mengya Xia () and Caitlin M. Hudac
Additional contact information
Mengya Xia: The University of Alabama
Caitlin M. Hudac: The University of South Carolina

Journal of Happiness Studies, 2023, vol. 24, issue 6, No 5, 2012 pages

Abstract: Abstract Despite a well-established association between social connection and well-being, it is unclear which aspects of social connection link to well-being in what ways. This gap in the literature necessitates a holistic evaluation of each construct and their comprehensive associations. This study used a pattern-based approach to (1) identify different constellations of quality, quantity, and need in social connection, (2) identify different typologies of well-being (using indicators of life satisfaction, a sense of purpose, depression, and perceived stressed), and (3) investigate their associations holistically. In a sample of 700 individuals (age: 17–33; 79.9% females; 77.1% White), five social connection constellations (i.e., low, dissatisfied, satisfied, compensatory, and high [social connection]) and three well-being typologies (i.e., distressed, satisfied, and aimless overload [well-being]) were identified. People with dissatisfied social connections were most likely to be in the distressed typology (92%), while those with high social connections were least likely to be in this typology (0%). People with satisfied (52%) and high (58%) social connections were most likely to be in satisfied well-being typology, while those with dissatisfied social connections were least likely to be in this typology (1%). People with low social connections were most likely to be in the aimless overload typology (73%), while those with dissatisfied social connections were least likely to be in this typology (7%). Findings highlighted multi-faceted nature of both constructs, illustrated the importance of high quality social connection for well-being, and emphasized the necessity of considering the role of quantity in the context of other social connection dimensions.

Keywords: Social Connection; Well-Being; Social Quality; Social Quantity; Latent Profile Analysis; Loglinear Modeling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10902-023-00667-x Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:jhappi:v:24:y:2023:i:6:d:10.1007_s10902-023-00667-x

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... fe/journal/10902/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s10902-023-00667-x

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Happiness Studies is currently edited by Antonella Delle Fave

More articles in Journal of Happiness Studies from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().