Strangers, Friends, and Everything Between: Sociodemographic Variation in Social Relationship Quality Across 22 Countries

Renae Wilkinson (), Koichiro Shiba, Cristina B. Gibson, Chukwuemeka N. Okafor, Ying Chen, R. Noah Padgett, Byron R. Johnson and Tyler J. VanderWeele
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Renae Wilkinson: Harvard University, Human Flourishing Program, Institute for Quantitative Social Science
Koichiro Shiba: Boston University School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology
Cristina B. Gibson: Pepperdine University, Pepperdine Graziadio Business School
Chukwuemeka N. Okafor: University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Long School of Medicine
Ying Chen: Harvard University, Human Flourishing Program, Institute for Quantitative Social Science
R. Noah Padgett: Harvard University, Human Flourishing Program, Institute for Quantitative Social Science
Byron R. Johnson: Harvard University, Human Flourishing Program, Institute for Quantitative Social Science
Tyler J. VanderWeele: Harvard University, Human Flourishing Program, Institute for Quantitative Social Science

Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, 2026, vol. 181, issue 1, No 11, 24 pages

Abstract: Abstract While prior research has demonstrated that social relationships meaningfully shape health and well-being, less is known about how subjective evaluations of the quality of one’s relationships differ across national contexts and across sociodemographic groups within different countries. Using data from the Global Flourishing Study, a large international sample of 202,898 adults from 22 countries, we examined the average level and distributions of social relationship quality by sociodemographic characteristics across and within these countries. Our results showed variation in social relationship quality across nations, with averages in most countries between 7 and 8 (on a scale from 0 to 10). Higher average scores were observed in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Mexico, and lower averages were shown in Japan, Turkey, and Australia. The meta-analytic results showed variation in social relationship quality across most sociodemographic factors examined, most notably patterns of increasing social relationship quality by age and frequency of religious service attendance. For marital status, married and widowed adults reported higher social relationship quality, while separated and divorced adults reported comparatively lower social relationship quality. Variation was also observed by employment status, with retired adults reporting the highest social relationship quality and unemployed adults the lowest. These patterns varied across nations in country-specific, nationally representative analyses. Findings from this study provide insight into the population distributions of social relationship quality—a key social factor influencing well-being—and lay a foundation for future investigation into the sociocultural influences that contribute to social relationship quality around the world.

Keywords: Social relationship quality; Global Flourishing Study; Cross-cultural research; Well-being; Sociodemographic variation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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DOI: 10.1007/s11205-025-03743-2

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