Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 31, 2025

The Social Dimension of Stress: Experimental Manipulations of Social Support and Social Identity in the Trier Social Stress Test
Published on: November 19, 2015
Actions Speak Louder Than Words: Workplace Social Relations and Worksite Health Promotion Use
Anne C van der Put1, Jornt J Mandemakers, John B F de Wit
1Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Utrecht University, The Netherlands (Ms van der Put, Dr Mandemakers, and Dr van der Lippe); Interdisciplinary Social Science: Public Health, Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Utrecht University, The Netherlands (Dr de Wit).
Objective:
To study whether workplace social relations explain use of worksite health promotion (WHP), by examining colleagues' and team managers' WHP encouragement of a healthy lifestyle, and colleague WHP uptake.
Methods:
Multilevel data came from the second wave of the European Sustainable Workforce Survey (4345 employees of 402 team in 9 countries). Linear probability models were used to test use of two types of WHP: healthy menus and sport facilities.
Results:
Employees are more likely to use healthy menus and sport facilities when more colleagues do so too and when colleagues encourage a healthy lifestyle. Surprisingly, encouragement by one's manager plays no role.
Conclusions:
Social contact among colleagues can facilitate WHP use, and WHP initiatives should pay attention to the influential role of colleagues.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Models of Health Promotion and Illness Prevention II
The agent-host-environment model states that disease results...
Models of Health Promotion and Illness Prevention I
The health belief model (HBM) attempts to predict health-related behavior in specific belief patterns. According to the HBM, a person's...
Levels of Health Promotion and Illness Prevention
In primary prevention, actions taken before disease onset prevent the disease from...
Social Relationships and Well-Being
Stress Prevention and Stress Management Techniques VI
Motivation and Self-Determination
Motivation, the driving force behind behavior, plays a pivotal role at every stage of the change process. The research...
Impact of Social Context on Individuals

