Healthy aging is influenced by more than laboratory values, exercise, nutrition, sleep, and medications. Research has consistently associated social connection with health, cognitive aging, and longevity.
This short questionnaire looks at four parts of social health: connection, belonging, relationship quality, and social engagement.
Think about your life during the past three months and choose the response that fits best.
1. Connection
Do you have meaningful people you can talk with and depend upon?
1. I have at least one person with whom I can talk openly about things that genuinely matter to me.
2. There is someone I could call if I unexpectedly needed practical or emotional help.
3. I regularly spend meaningful time with people I care about.
2. Belonging
Do you feel known, included, and part of something meaningful?
4. I feel that I belong to a family, friendship group, community, faith community, organization, or other meaningful group.
5. I feel known and understood by at least one other person.
6. Even when I am around other people, I rarely feel emotionally alone.
3. Relationship Quality
Are your closest relationships generally supportive rather than chronically stressful?
7. My closest relationships generally leave me feeling supported rather than depleted.
8. I can relax and be myself around at least one person without feeling that I need to stay guarded or perform a role.
9. My important relationships generally feel stable enough that conflict or tension does not dominate my emotional life.
4. Social Engagement
Are meaningful interaction and participation part of your regular life?
10. I regularly have opportunities for meaningful conversation, shared activities, learning, helping others, or companionship.
11. I maintain regular contact with people outside my immediate household.
12. I have relationships, activities, or responsibilities that give me a sense of participation in something beyond myself.
One More Question
When you think about the people closest to you, is there at least one person around whom you can genuinely relax, lower your guard, and feel accepted as yourself?
This question does not affect your numerical score. It is included because the quality of social connection may matter just as much as how frequently you interact with other people.
Your Social Connection & Longevity Results
Where You Might Focus
Your total score provides a broad overview, but the individual categories can be more useful for identifying where your social health is already strong and where there may be room for attention.
A Note About Relationship Quality
Why Does Social Connection Matter for Longevity?
Social isolation, loneliness, belonging, relationship quality, and meaningful interaction overlap, but they are not the same thing. Research has associated social connection with survival, cognitive aging, cardiovascular health, stress regulation, and other aspects of healthy aging.
The science is also more nuanced than simply telling people to socialize more. Our HormoneSynergy® Mini Stack reviews what the research actually shows, what remains uncertain, and why social health may deserve a place alongside exercise, sleep, metabolic health, and other longevity variables.
Read the HormoneSynergy® Mini StackThis questionnaire calculates your results in your browser. This version does not submit, transmit, or store your individual answers with HormoneSynergy®.