Social Integration in Adolescence and Physiological Dysregulation in Young Adulthood

Kathleen Mullan Harris, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

A large literature has found that social ties, embeddedness in social networks, and engagement in social life improves physical health; whereas social isolation and lack of social connections is harmful for health. Most of this research, however, has focused on older and/or aging populations, with little attention to the early stage of the life course. We investigate how social integration and isolation in adolescence may have long lasting effects on physiological dysregulation in young adulthood, as indicated by objective biomarker measures of cardiovascular and immune functions including inflammation, blood pressure, and latent viral infection. We use longitudinal data from Add Health and measure social integration in the multiple contexts of adolescent life—family, peers, school and community contexts. Preliminary findings support our hypothesis that greater social integration and less social isolation in adolescence is associated with better health, or lower levels of EBV, CRP and blood pressure in young adulthood.