Second, the broader social context—as structured by age, class, race, and gender—influences the formation and quality of social ties as well as the processes through which social ties affect health. However, the ways in which these structural variables shape social ties are not well understood, and few studies consider how these structural variables might modify relationship/health linkages. Likewise, social ties may shape the way that structural variables influence health. For instance, marital status may alter the inverse association between educational attainment and mortality risks, at least for men (Montez et al. 2009). This type of research is needed in order to identify at-risk populations as well as explanatory mechanisms linking social ties to health outcomes across social groups.
