Grant: CIHR New Investigator

Social connections and social support networks are essential for physical and mental health. In fact, how long people live is better predicted by the quality of their social relationships and how well they are integrated in their community, than it is by how much they smoke and drink, or whether they are obese. Loneliness, on the other hand, is strongly associated with negative health outcomes including depression, poor sleep quality, more hospital and doctor visits, and compromised immune system functioning. My research investigates the processes involved in successful social interactions with strangers, friendship formation, and social integration. I focus on questions including: What motivates people to seek social contact, and why do some people have a harder time making friends than others? How do people cope successfully with social stress and social setbacks? How do people develop a larger sense of belonging when they move to a new community? These are timely topics, given that North American cultures are characterized by high rates of immigration and residential mobility. Specifically, I will examine whether and how genetic variants, psychological beliefs about oneself and others, and specific behaviours such as eye contact and mimicry, influence the outcome of social interactions. I will also investigate the long-term consequences of neurobiology, beliefs, and behaviour on the social integration outcomes of people moving to a new community. Moving to a new community can be highly stressful, and successfully establishing a new social support network during this transition has substantial long-term effects on health. Indeed, social support is one of the most important buffers against the detrimental effects of stress. In the long term, I plan to use the findings of this research to identify people who are likely to experience difficulty transitioning into new environments and to develop strategies for promoting healthy coping and socialization.