Two largely separate literatures consider how social ties influence health habits, one focusing on childhood and adolescence and the other on adulthood. From a life course perspective, this division is artificial and counterproductive. Mounting evidence points to the “long arm of childhood,” in that early life course experiences launch social and health trajectories into motion and have health effects lasting into adulthood (Haas 2008, Palloni 2006). Consequently, we try to bridge the childhood, adolescence, and adulthood literatures in this review, suggesting that health habits help to explain how social ties influence health cumulatively across life.
