A growing body of theoretical and empirical work illustrates how social conditions foster cumulative advantage and disadvantage for health over the life course. This may be a case of the rich getting richer while the poor get poorer, in that strained and unsupportive relationships in childhood launch into motion a cascade of factors—such as increased risk for depression, low personal control, and poor health habits—that lead to poorer health and more strained and less supportive relationships across the life course. Scholars should consider this cascading process, and they should identify at-risk populations as well as the most important modifiable risk and protective factors in their social relationships. Scholars should also help to clarify when social ties impact health habits, as well as identify which social ties are most important to health at different life stages.
