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

社会关系是人类经历的核心，影响着人们的思想、感情和行为。它们将个人嵌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维度已被证明是整个生命过程中积极主观幸福感的关键决定因素，并在成功的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联系，并遭受孤独，即对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，日本65岁及以上老人中有16.8%独居，这一比例在短短4年内上升至18%。进一步的当代社会人口和经济趋势，如人口老龄化的增长、婚姻和出生率的下降、支离破碎的职业、工作与生活平衡的日益严峻的挑战，以及在线和数字社交网络的兴起和普及，可能会导致浪漫、家庭和工作关系的重大变化，目前对主观幸福感的影响尚未得到充分探讨。欣赏社会福利中的文化背景是关键。关系中相互依赖、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1)社会关系的不同维度和2)它们在促进幸福方面的作用的跨文化比较。考虑到不同的文化背景，但相似的社会人口和经济挑战，英国和日本之间的比较提供了独特的机会，以增加我们对社会关系的理解，他们的未来趋势和对福祉的影响。这样的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名中处于领先地位，但其主观幸福感却较低。然而，迄今为止，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。英日老龄化国家的社会福利（英日SWAN）将汇集英国和日本在社会福利领域的现有研究网络，建立积极的研究伙伴关系，交流最佳实践实例，并促进对现有丰富数据源的访问。该网络的目的是促进目前对社会关系、社会参与和福利的文化敏感措施的了解，并提倡在大规模人口研究中使用这些措施。最终，英日SWAN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，并预测其未来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.