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Evaluating Associations Between Friendship Characteristics and Mental, Physical, and Cognitive Health
William J Chopik1, Hyewon Yang1, Richard E Lucas1
1Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
Research on Aging
|December 27, 2025
Summary
Friendships have a weaker impact on health than previously thought. Health status appears to influence friendship dynamics more than friendships influence health outcomes in older adults.
Area of Science:
- Gerontology
- Social Psychology
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Friendships are recognized for their positive influence on physical, mental, and cognitive health.
- Existing research often uses limited measurement points and models that blend individual and group variations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the reciprocal associations between friendship characteristics and health indicators over time.
- To address limitations in previous studies by employing advanced longitudinal models.
Main Methods:
- Utilized data from 23,248 middle-aged and older adults from the Health and Retirement Study.
- Applied advanced longitudinal models, including STARTS variants of ARTS and RI-CLPM, over a 16-year period.
- Examined friendship metrics (quantity, contact frequency, quality) and health indicators (self-rated health, depression, cognition).
Main Results:
- Cross-lagged effects between friendship and health were consistently small.
- Found stronger evidence for health predicting friendship outcomes than vice versa.
- Models accounting for occasion-specific variance indicated traditional models might overestimate friendship effects.
Conclusions:
- Causal claims linking friendships to health require re-evaluation due to small cross-lagged effects.
- Health status appears to be a more significant predictor of friendship dynamics than the reverse.
- Decomposing trait-like and state-like variation is crucial for understanding friendships' role in healthy aging.
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