Having close social relationships and being married specifically have been reliably associated with health benefits including lower morbidity and mortality. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of marital status, relationship quality, and network support on measures of psychological and cardiovascular health. We examined ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) among 204 married and 99 single males and females (N = 303). We found that both marital status and marital quality were important. Married individuals had greater satisfaction with life (SWL) and blood pressure dipping than single individuals. High marital quality was associated with lower ABP, lower stress, less depression, and higher SWL. Importantly, contrasting those who are unmarried with those in low-quality marriages, we find that single individuals had lower ABP-suggesting that single individuals fare better than their unhappily married counterparts. Likewise, having a supportive network did not moderate (i.e., buffer) the effects of being single or unhappily married. Findings indicate being married per se is not universally beneficial, rather, the satisfaction and support associated with such a relationship is important. However, marriage may be distinctive, as evidence further suggests that support from one's network does not compensate for the effect of being single. These results highlight the complexities in understanding the influence of social relationships on long-term health, and they may help clarify the physiological pathways by which such associations exist.

Background: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic led to substantial public discussion. Understanding these discussions can help institutions, governments, and individuals navigate the pandemic. Objective: The aim of this study is to analyze discussions on Twitter related to COVID-19 and to investigate the sentiments toward COVID-19. Methods: This study applied machine learning methods in the field of artificial intelligence to analyze data collected from Twitter. Using tweets originating exclusively in the United States and written in English during the 1-month period from March 20 to April 19, 2020, the study examined COVID-19–related discussions. Social network and sentiment analyses were also conducted to determine the social network of dominant topics and whether the tweets expressed positive, neutral, or negative sentiments. Geographic analysis of the tweets was also conducted. Results: There were a total of 14,180,603 likes, 863,411 replies, 3,087,812 retweets, and 641,381 mentions in tweets during the study timeframe. Out of 902,138 tweets analyzed, sentiment analysis classified 434,254 (48.2%) tweets as having a positive sentiment, 187,042 (20.7%) as neutral, and 280,842 (31.1%) as negative. The study identified 5 dominant themes among COVID-19–related tweets: health care environment, emotional support, business economy, social change, and psychological stress. Alaska, Wyoming, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Florida were the states expressing the most negative sentiment while Vermont, North Dakota, Utah, Colorado, Tennessee, and North Carolina conveyed the most positive sentiment. Conclusions: This study identified 5 prevalent themes of COVID-19 discussion with sentiments ranging from positive to negative. These themes and sentiments can clarify the public’s response to COVID-19 and help officials navigate the pandemic.

Purpose/Objectives: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic arguably represents the worst public health crisis of the 21^st century. However, no empirical study currently exists in the literature that examines the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on dental education. This study evaluated the impact of COVID‐19 on dental education and dental students’ experience.Methods: An anonymous online survey was administrated to professional dental students that focused on their experiences related to COVID‐19. The survey included questions about student demographics, protocols for school reopening and student perceptions of institutional responses, student concerns, and psychological impacts.Results: Among the 145 respondents, 92.4% were pre‐doctoral dental students and 7.6% were orthodontic residents; 48.2% were female and 12.6% students lived alone during the school closure due to the pandemic. Students’ age ranged from 23 to 39 years. Younger students expressed more concerns about their emotional health (P = 0.01). In terms of the school's overall response to COVID‐19, 73.1% students thought it was effective. The majority (83%) of students believed that social distancing in school can minimize the development of COVID‐19. In general, students felt that clinical education suffered after transitioning to online but responded more positively about adjustments to other online curricular components.Conclusions: The COVID‐19 pandemic significantly impacted dental education. Our findings indicate that students are experiencing increased levels of stress and feel their clinical education has suffered. Most students appear comfortable with technology adaptations for didactic curriculum and favor masks, social distancing, and liberal use of sanitizers.

The quality of one's personal relationships has been linked to morbidity and mortality across different diseases. As a result, it is important to examine more integrative mechanisms that might link relationships across diverse physical health outcomes. In this study, we examine associations between relationships and telomeres that predict general disease risk. These questions are pursued in the context of a more comprehensive model of relationships that highlights the importance of jointly considering positive and negative aspects of social ties. One hundred thirty-six individuals from a community sample (ages 48 to 77 years) completed the social relationships index, which allows a determination of relationships that differ in their positive and negative substrates (i.e., ambivalent, supportive, aversive, indifferent). Telomere length was determined from peripheral blood mononuclear cells via quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Participants who had a higher number of ambivalent ties in their social networks evidenced shorter telomeres. These results were independent of other relationship types (e.g., supportive) and standard control variables (e.g., age, health behaviors, and medication use). Gender moderated the links between ambivalent ties and telomere length, with these associations seen primarily in women. Follow-up analyses revealed that the links between ambivalent ties and telomeres were primarily due to friendships, parents, and social acquaintances. Consistent with epidemiological findings, these data highlight a novel and integrative biological mechanism by which social ties may affect health across diseases and further suggest the importance of incorporating positivity and negativity in the study of specific relationships and physical health.