Healthy by Association: The relationship between social participation and self-rated physical and psychological health

This paper investigates the relationship between social participation and subjective health. Using individual-level data from the British Household Panel Survey, we show that being an active member of a social or sport organisation increases self-rated physical and psychological health. For men, the benefits of social interaction work primarily via physical pathways, while women report a more psychosocial channel. We separate the main results by occupation and document some heterogeneity. Manual workers find more physical and psychological relief via social involvement, whereas non-manual workers are more likely to take relief from sport participation. Interestingly, as the number of associations in which the individual is active increases, the incremental increase in social benefits diminishes. Our findings point to the importance of promoting social and sport activities in health communication and policy making.