Some effects of social ties are more immediate, while others slowly build over time. For example, at any given point in time, ongoing social ties affect mental health and health behavior—for better or for worse. These effects may or may not dissipate over time, but recent work on the effects of distressed, disrupted, and emotionally unsupportive childhood environments on adult health shows that these effects reverberate throughout the life course (Crosnoe and Elder 2004; Palloni 2006; Shaw et al. 2004). Certainly, chronic isolation or strain in social ties take an increasing toll over time on a host of health indicators including allostatic load (Seeman et al. 2002), blood pressure (Cacioppo et al. 2002), physical health (Umberson et al. 2006), and mortality risk (Berkman and Syme 1979).
