New research provides evidence that social connections are important for the well-being of individuals across the introversion-extraversion spectrum. The findings, published in Health Psychology Open, challenge the misconception that introverts need or value social connection less than their extraverted counterparts.
“Loneliness is a public health crisis with studies suggesting it is as harmful to your health and wellness as smoking, sedentary living, and unhealthy diet,” said study author Kiffer G. Card, an assistant professor of health sciences at Simon Fraser University
“But, health systems are not well set up to address loneliness. Changing that is one of the most important aims of my lab. As part of these efforts, we are working to develop public health guidelines for social connection. People know how much exercise they need and that they should eat their vegetables, but when it comes to social connection people were never really taught that it was one of the most important determinants of their health and happiness.”
“Social connection guidelines can help with that. Of course, as we’re working to develop these guidelines, we’ve heard again and again that individuals vary with respect to how much social connection they need. In particular, people suggest that introverts may not need as much social connection as others. We wanted to see whether that was true.”
To conduct this study, the researchers utilized data from the 2021 Canadian Social Connection Survey, which was administered during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada (April 21, 2021, to June 1, 2021). The survey recruited participants aged 16 years and older living in Canada through paid advertisements on social media platforms. In total, 949 participants who completed specific modules assessing psychological factors, including extraversion, were included in the analyses.
The researchers found that higher subjective happiness was associated with higher social support from friends, family, and significant others. Additionally, higher subjective happiness was correlated with lower emotional loneliness (e.g., “I miss having people around.”) and lower social loneliness (e.g., “There are enough people I feel close to”), as well as having 1–2, 3–4, or 5 or more close friends compared to having none.
In other words, participants who had more support from their friends, family, and significant others and who felt less lonely tended to report higher levels of general happiness. Having even just a few close friends was associated with higher happiness compared to having no close friends. These findings were true for both introverted and extraverted individuals.
“While individuals do differ with regard to how much social connection they want and need, our studies emphasize that we should not overestimate the impact of this individual variation. We all need to prioritize the development of healthy social lives — even if these social lives do look different from person to person,” Card told PsyPost.
The researchers also found that the positive impact of social support from friends and family was stronger for individuals with low extraversion compared to those with high extraversion. Feeling emotionally lonely had a similar effect on happiness regardless of whether someone was extraverted or not, while feeling socially lonely had a stronger negative impact on happiness for people who were less extraverted.
Interestingly, having more close friends was connected to greater happiness for people who were more introverted but this connection wasn’t as strong for people who were more extraverted.
“The main takeaway is that social connection is important for everyone,” Card said. “In fact, when introverts are disconnected they’re even worse off than extraverts are. This help correct the common misunderstanding that social connection isn’t as important for introverts.”
But the study, like all research, includes some caveats. While the researchers observed associations between personality traits, social health measures, and subjective happiness, they cannot make definitive conclusions about one variable causing changes in another. Cross-sectional studies provide a snapshot of relationships but do not capture the temporal dynamics necessary to determine causality.
“I think this is the first study in a series of studies looking at a wider variety of factors that shape our social health needs,” Card explained. “For example, cultural differences in social expectations may create unique vulnerabilities to loneliness. Understanding these factors, and their importance, will help us improve future recommendations for social wellbeing. Of course, as with every study, replication in larger, more diverse samples and longitudinal designs will help us isolate the effects of interest and help advance the science of social connection.”
The study, “Are social support, loneliness, and social connection differentially associated with happiness across levels of introversion-extraversion?“, was authored by Kiffer G. Card and Shayna Skakoon-Sparling.