Supportive and thriving social networks provide a crucial foundation for levels of individual and national happiness and resilience, as measured by the 2025 World Happiness Report. The SCRS is a tool to measure one's relational world and is an asset to mental health and life coaching professionals help their clients develop meaningful connections and ultimately to be happy.

The World Health Organization defines health as more than the absence of disease and, in doing so, it provides for a more inclusive and...

We all play multiple roles in life. Some days it may even feel like an identity juggling contest. You are a mother and a daughter, a colleague, a mentor, a sister, a friend, a neighbor, a congregation member, a coach, a wife or significant other. Most US adults have social ties with many people, including friends, family, co-workers, and other acquaintances. It is nearly impossible for most people to reliably list all the people they know, but using a mathematical model, soci

HIGHLIGHTS Owning any pet can have a significant role in reducing depression, anxiety, and stress. The physical and psychological benefits in the form of a pet have genuine physiological underpinnings and is thought to affect both sympathetic and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal reactivity. Even short-term exposure to a novel dog in an unfamiliar or anxiety provoking setting can lower cortisol and heart rate levels. Pet ownership may be a protective factor for individual and c

Highlights More than 30% of men (Generation Z and Millennials, in particular) reported feeling lonely in 2018 and this number is rising, with estimates as high as 45%. Low income, low education, unmarried, poor health status, and social isolation are known predictors of loneliness for men. Men benefit more from marriage than do women and fare less well than women when single or widowed. A dramatic rise in unmarried, unpartnered men coexists with the rise in male loneliness. H

HIGHLIGHTS Restricted social networks predict mortality twice that of those who enjoy greater social integration. Smaller, weaker, and...

It was a rainy Thursday morning. With umbrella and purse in hand, I clumsily opened the entrance door of my favorite bread store. Its overhead bronze bell made a familiar clamor reminiscent of the candy shop that once inhabited this space, a shop my sister and I as children would patron with pockets full of coins and hearts oversized with sweet treat wishes. As I approached the counter I was greeted by the slightly sweet, yeasty, tang of baking bread and ready to take my orde

Highlights Marital status is a predictor of emotional and physical health, with divorced persons at greater risk for depression, anxiety, and poor physical health status. Divorce adjustment may hinge on the clients' social health or wellbeing and, in particular, the presence of perceived social support. Social support is defined as the physical and emotional resources an individual perceives as available and reliable and is thought to buffer the physiological stress response

During the pandemic, out of concern for the wellbeing of my widowed father, my dog and I would meet up with him at various parks in the...