Understanding the changing picture of social relationships and well-being: A collaborative research network between the UK and Japan (UK-Japan SWAN)

Social relationships are central to human experience and impact people's thoughts, feelings and behaviours. They embed individuals within wider networks and communities and provide opportunities for different forms of social and cultural participation. These different dimensions of social relationships have been overwhelming demonstrated as key determinants of positive subjective well-being across the life-course and to play an important role in successful ageing.

However, nowadays significant numbers of people across the globe lack social connections and suffer from loneliness, namely, dissatisfaction with the frequency and closeness of one's social relationships. In 2011, around 7.1 million people in England and Wales lived alone, and 12.8% of them were aged 65 and over. At the same time, 16.8% of Japanese people aged 65 and over lived alone, and this proportion increased to 18% in just 4 years. Further contemporary sociodemographic and economic trends, such as the growth of the ageing population, decline in marriage and birth rates, fragmented careers, increasing challenge of work-life balance and the rise and popularity of online and digital social networks are likely to contribute to significant changes to romantic, family and at work relationships, with currently under-explored implications for subjective well-being.

Appreciating cultural context in social well-being is key. Norms and expectations regarding interdependence, closeness and social support in relationships are shaped by culture. Similarly, forms of social and cultural participation are shaped by cultural and historical heritage. However, to date, the majority of research comes from Western populations, and there are surprisingly few current, cross-cultural comparisons of i) different dimensions of social relationships and ii) their role in promoting well-being.

Given a distinct cultural context, yet similar sociodemographic and economic challenges, comparisons between the UK and Japan offer unique opportunities to increase our understanding of social relationships, their future trends and the implications for well-being. Such comparative studies may help to elucidate, among others, the 'Japanese paradox' - lower rates of subjective well-being in Japan despite its leading position in life expectancy rankings. However, to date, there have been very few comparative studies between UK and Japan despite the existence of readily available data sources, such as the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing and the Japan Study of Aging and Retirement.

UK-Japan Social Well-being across Ageing Nations (UK-Japan SWAN) will bring together existing research networks in the area of social well-being in the UK and Japan to establish active research partnerships, exchange examples of best practice, and facilitate access to existing rich data sources. The network will aim to advance current understanding of culturally-sensitive measures of social relationships, social participation and well-being as well as advocate their use in large-scale population studies. Ultimately, UK-Japan SWAN will strive to increase the understanding of the interplay between culture, social relationships and well-being in ageing populations as well as forecast their future trends and implications for younger generations.

Loneliness, social isolation and low levels of subjective well-being are a major societal and public health challenge faced by an ever-increasing number of ageing populations. There is, therefore, an urgent need to identify and support novel approaches aimed at preventing loneliness as well as promoting social connectedness and well-being. The UK-Japan SWAN network will provide much-needed resources to generate more, higher quality evidence on current and future trends in social well-being in ageing populations, necessary to inform policy.

The UK-Japan SWAN network will engage with non-academic beneficiaries, namely policy researchers, think tanks and relevant charities, and policymakers. For instance, we will involve civil servants and politicians in the UK government departments (e.g. Representatives of the Technical Advisory Group on Loneliness from the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport currently conducted on behalf Tracey Crouch, MP for Loneliness) and relevant Select Committees and All-Party Parliamentary Groups (e.g. APPG Arts, Health and Well-being; Health and Social Care Committee, APPG Ageing and Older People, APPG Dementia). Third-sector organisations will also be actively included, such as the King's Fund, Age UK, and the Campaign to End Loneliness and the Centre for Ageing Better. Additionally, the project partner, ILC-UK, think tank at the front line of the ageing-related social problems will advise us on maximising delivery of a lasting societal impact.

An academic impact from the project outputs will be generated through increasing awareness and use of secondary data sources; understanding of culturally-sensitive measures of social relationships and well-being; as well as facilitating knowledge exchange and collaboration between UK- and Japan-based researchers working in the fields of sociology, demography, arts and culture, statistics, epidemiology, gerontology, social policy and global well-being.

In an immediate term, the project outputs will facilitate further cross-national comparative investigations on social relationships and well-being and emphasise the value of longitudinal studies in both countries. In a longer term, UK-Japan SWAN will help academic and non-academic users to understand the changing picture of social relationships and well-being in ageing populations as well as forecast their future trends and implications for younger generations.