Relationship Between Social Integration, Global Self-Esteem, and Physical and Mental Health in a Representative German Sample

Background: Beyond participation as a civil right, social participation has already been considered from legal, ethical, socio-psychological and political perspectives as an important component of the self- and external evaluation of a person as a valuable member of a society. Thus, social psychological studies frequently showed the importance of the sense of belonging as a central psychological component of social participation for both personal and social self-esteem. From a medical-psychological perspective, the association of global self-esteem and self-efficacy with health is well established. However, it is an open question whether social participation is directly related to psychological and physical well-being or whether this relationship is mediated via global self-esteem.

Methods: Based on a nationwide representative survey in Germany (N=2.531; age 14-93, M=48.58; 55.4% women), the variables social participation (KsT-5), global self-esteem (SISE), and physical and mental health (EQ5D) were measured using standardized questionnaires to examine a potential mediation.

Results: As expected, significant positive correlations between social participation, global self-esteem and physical and mental health were found with medium ranged effect sizes. However, global self-esteem only partially mediated the association between social participation and health, i. e. a direct significant association between social participation and health could be proven.

Conclusions: The results underline the direct relevance of social participation for physical and mental health. This opens a hitherto hardly used perspective for health promotion in interaction with socio-political challenges in the topics of integration, inclusion and the sense of belonging.