Understanding the changing picture of social relationships and well-being: A collaborative research network between the UK and Japan (UK-Japan SWAN)

社会关系是人类体验的核心，影响着人们的思想、情感和行为。它们使个人融入更广泛的网络和社区，并为不同形式的社会和文化参与提供机会。这些社会关系的不同方面已经被压倒性地证明是整个生命过程中积极的主观幸福感的关键决定因素，并在成功老龄化中发挥重要作用。然而，如今，全球有相当多的人缺乏社会关系，并遭受孤独之苦，即对自己社会关系的频率和亲密程度感到不满。2011年，英格兰和威尔士约有710万人独居，其中12.8%的人年龄在65岁及以上。与此同时，在65岁及以上的日本人中，16.8%的人独居，这一比例在短短4年内就上升到了18%。进一步的当代社会人口和经济趋势，如老龄化人口的增长、结婚率和出生率的下降、职业生涯的碎片化、工作与生活平衡面临的日益严峻的挑战以及在线和数字社交网络的兴起和普及，可能会促使浪漫、家庭和工作关系发生重大变化，而这些变化对主观幸福感的影响目前尚未得到充分探讨。欣赏社会福利中的文化背景是关键。在人际关系中，关于相互依赖、亲密和社会支持的规范和期望是由文化塑造的。同样，社会和文化参与的形式也受到文化和历史遗产的影响。然而，到目前为止，大多数研究来自西方人群，令人惊讶的是，目前很少有关于社会关系的不同维度以及它们在促进幸福感方面的作用的跨文化比较。鉴于两国不同的文化背景，但社会人口和经济挑战相似，英国和日本的比较提供了独特的机会，让我们更好地理解社会关系、社会关系的未来趋势以及对幸福的影响。这类比较研究可能有助于阐明“日本悖论”--尽管日本在预期寿命排行榜上处于领先地位，但日本的主观幸福感水平较低。然而，到目前为止，尽管有现成的数据来源，如英国老龄化纵向研究和日本老龄化与退休研究，但英国和日本之间的比较研究很少。英日老龄化国家社会福祉(UK-Japan SWAN)将汇集英国和日本社会福祉领域的现有研究网络，建立积极的研究伙伴关系，交流最佳做法的例子，并促进对现有丰富数据来源的获取。该网络将致力于促进目前对社会关系、社会参与和福祉等对文化敏感的衡量标准的理解，并倡导在大规模人口研究中使用这些衡量标准。最终，英国-日本天鹅将努力增进对老龄化人口中文化、社会关系和福祉之间相互作用的理解，并预测它们未来的趋势和对年轻一代的影响。

Social relationships are central to human experience and impact people's thoughts, feelings and behaviours. They embed individuals within wider networks and communities and provide opportunities for different forms of social and cultural participation. These different dimensions of social relationships have been overwhelming demonstrated as key determinants of positive subjective well-being across the life-course and to play an important role in successful ageing. However, nowadays significant numbers of people across the globe lack social connections and suffer from loneliness, namely, dissatisfaction with the frequency and closeness of one's social relationships. In 2011, around 7.1 million people in England and Wales lived alone, and 12.8% of them were aged 65 and over. At the same time, 16.8% of Japanese people aged 65 and over lived alone, and this proportion increased to 18% in just 4 years. Further contemporary sociodemographic and economic trends, such as the growth of the ageing population, decline in marriage and birth rates, fragmented careers, increasing challenge of work-life balance and the rise and popularity of online and digital social networks are likely to contribute to significant changes to romantic, family and at work relationships, with currently under-explored implications for subjective well-being. Appreciating cultural context in social well-being is key. Norms and expectations regarding interdependence, closeness and social support in relationships are shaped by culture. Similarly, forms of social and cultural participation are shaped by cultural and historical heritage. However, to date, the majority of research comes from Western populations, and there are surprisingly few current, cross-cultural comparisons of i) different dimensions of social relationships and ii) their role in promoting well-being. Given a distinct cultural context, yet similar sociodemographic and economic challenges, comparisons between the UK and Japan offer unique opportunities to increase our understanding of social relationships, their future trends and the implications for well-being. Such comparative studies may help to elucidate, among others, the 'Japanese paradox' - lower rates of subjective well-being in Japan despite its leading position in life expectancy rankings. However, to date, there have been very few comparative studies between UK and Japan despite the existence of readily available data sources, such as the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing and the Japan Study of Aging and Retirement.UK-Japan Social Well-being across Ageing Nations (UK-Japan SWAN) will bring together existing research networks in the area of social well-being in the UK and Japan to establish active research partnerships, exchange examples of best practice, and facilitate access to existing rich data sources. The network will aim to advance current understanding of culturally-sensitive measures of social relationships, social participation and well-being as well as advocate their use in large-scale population studies. Ultimately, UK-Japan SWAN will strive to increase the understanding of the interplay between culture, social relationships and well-being in ageing populations as well as forecast their future trends and implications for younger generations.