Social network and quality of life of men who may fail to marry

What is it about?

In rural China, a large number of men are facing difficulties in finding a spouse and may fail to ever marry due to the gender imbalance. These men live with a worse quality of life. Research has indicated that social support can promote individuals’ physiological and psychological health outcomes. There are two models can explain the relationship between social support and individual health and wellbeing: the main-effect model and the stress-buffering model. We examined whether the size and composition of instrumental support network and social contact network would be related to the quality of life of marriage-squeezed men and whether the relationship between marriage squeeze and quality of life would be influenced by these two networks’ size and composition.

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Why is it important?

Before this study, the relationship between social networks and quality of life for marriage-squeezed men in China was unexplored. Our findings show that the size of social contact networks is directly and positively associated with the quality of life of marriage-squeezed men, and moderate the negative effect of age on quality of life. Having no or limited instrumental support network and social contact network are double-edged swords, which have direct negative associations with the quality of life of marriage-squeezed men, and have moderate effects on the relationship between marriage squeeze and quality of life.

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