title: Country specific associations between social contact and mental health: evidence from civil servant studies across Great Britain, Japan and Finland.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Little is known about which component, such as social contact of social networks is associated with mental health or whether such an association can be observed across countries. This study examined whether the association between frequent social contact and mental health differs by composition (relatives or friends) and whether the associations are similar across three occupational cohorts from Great Britain, Japan, and Finland.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional analysis of data from three prospective cohort studies.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants were civil servants of a prospective cohort study based in London (Men: n = 4519; Women: n = 1756), in the West Coast of Japan (Men: n = 2571; Women: n = 1102), and in Helsinki, Finland (Men: n = 1181; Women: n = 5633); we included the information on study variables which is complete. Mental health function was the study outcome, indicated by the total score from the Mental Health Component on the Short Form Health Survey36. Participants reported frequencies of contacts with their relatives or friends via a questionnaire. Age, marital status, and occupational position were treated as confounders in this study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Findings from multiple regression showed that the associations between social contact and mental health function were different depending on country of origin and gender. Among British or Japanese men, frequent contact with both friends and relatives was positively associated with their mental health function, while only social contact with friends was significantly associated with mental health of Finnish men. In women, the patterns of the associations between social contact and mental health were more distinctive: friends for Great Britain, relatives for Japan, and friends and relatives for Finland. These significant associations were independent of the confounders.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Social contact was related to mental health of working people; however, culture and gender are likely to be tapped into.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, 1-19 Torrington Place, London, WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom. Electronic address: n.cable@ucl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cable
authors.affiliation: Cathie Marsh Institute for Social Research, University of Manchester, Humanities Bridgeford St Building Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom. Electronic address: tarani.chandola@manchester.ac.uk.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Chandola
authors.affiliation: Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Disability Prevention Research Centre, P.O. Box 40, 00251, Helsinki, Finland; Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 20 (Tukholmankatu 8B), FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: Tea.Lallukka@ttl.fi.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lallukka
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Health Policy, University of Toyama, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2630 Sugitani, Toyama 930-0194, Japan. Electronic address: sekine@med.u-Toyama.ac.jp.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sekine
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 20 (Tukholmankatu 8B), FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: eero.lahelma@helsinki.fi.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lahelma
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Health Policy, University of Toyama, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2630 Sugitani, Toyama 930-0194, Japan. Electronic address: tatsuse@med.u-toyama.ac.jp.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tatsuse
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, 1-19 Torrington Place, London, WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom. Electronic address: m.marmot@ucl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Marmot
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004651:Employment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D033062:Friends / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom
keywords: Cross-national comparisons; Mental health; Occupational cohort; Social contact