The mental representation of social connections: generalizability extended to Beijing adults.

ABSTRACT: Social connections are essential for the survival of a social species like humans. People differ in the degree to which they are sensitive to perceived deficits in their social connections, but evidence suggests that they nevertheless construe the nature of their social connections similarly. This construal can be thought of as a mental representation of a multi-faceted social experience. A three-dimensional mental representation has been identified with the UCLA Loneliness Scale and consists of Intimate, Relational, and Collective Connectedness reflecting beliefs about one's individual, dyadic, and collective (group) social value, respectively. Moreover, this mental representation has been replicated with other scales and validated across age, gender, and racial/ethnic lines in U.S. sampl

SUBMITTER: Hawkley LC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3442957 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature