Ties that Bind: Social Relationships and Emotional Well-Being Among Middle Aged and Older African Americans

Social relationships with partners, family members, and friends may enhance emotional health. We studied associations between the type, contact frequency and quality of social relationships and self-rated emotional health among middle age and older African Americans. Data were from the Milwaukee African American sample of the second Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS II) study, 2005-2006 (n=592). The outcome was self-reported emotional health (SREH). Social relationships were measured by type (marital, family, friend), contact frequency, and quality (levels of support and strain). Logistic regression controlled for demographic characteristics, types of lifetime and daily discrimination, neighborhood quality, and psychosocial characteristics. About 63% of respondents were women; the average age was 51.7 (standard deviation 11.9). Nearly 84% reported good, very good, or excellent SREH; we compared this group to those with fair or poor SREH. In adjusted results, each increase on a family emotional support scale was associated with 106% greater odds of having better SREH (odds ratio, OR 2.06, 95% confidence interval, CI 1.33-3.18). Each additional type of daily discrimination was associated with 16% lower odds of having better SREH (OR 0.84, CI 0.74-0.95). Family support buffered this negative effect; among individuals with limited family support, each type of daily discrimination experienced was associated with 53% lower odds of having better SREH (OR 0.47, CI 0.28-0.79). Health practitioners and social services providers should ask about African Americans' emotional support, and communicate the importance of social ties for well-being, particularly given negative effects of discrimination for those with limited social ties.