XIX ISA World Congress of Sociology (July 15-21, 2018)

822

Social Relationships and Mental Health and Illness

RC49 Mental Health and Illness (host committee)

Language: English

Studies on the role of social relationships for the maintenance of mental health, the etiology of mental disorders but also for coping with and recovery from mental illness have been a field of fruitful co-operations between sociologists and psychiatrists since the early 20^th century. Despite this long tradition of research the topic of social relationships and mental health has lost none of its relevance today. Recent developments in late-modern societies such as globalization, individualization, migration, demographic aging, and the digitalization of communication with its far reaching consequences on social relationships can be also expected to affect mental health and the way how societies and individuals cope with mental disorders in many ways. During the last decades theoretical and methodological concepts like social capital or social networks as well as new developments in the human sciences such as meta-genetics have opened new perspectives of interdisciplinary research and provided new insights into the processes by which social relationships affect mental health and illness. In this symposium new research on the association between social relationships and mental health and illness should be presented. Theoretical contributions are also welcome as qualitative and quantitative empirical studies. The submission of interdisciplinary work would be particularly appreciated.