Feeling connected, feeling poor? The dual impact of everyday interactions with neighbors and relative deprivation on subjective well-being

How do everyday interactions with family, friends and neighbors influence people’s subjective well-being? Using five waves of panel data from an ecological momentary assessment with more than 180 randomly sampled participants in Switzerland, this paper examines how and for whom social interactions in the neighborhood influence affective states as well as life satisfaction. Investigating both quantitative and qualitative impacts of everyday relations, this paper finds that more frequent interactions with neighbors during the past week lead to higher levels of positive affect. However, interacting more frequently with neighbors does not influence negative affect or life satisfaction. Meanwhile, more frequent interactions with friends and family are particularly relevant for life satisfaction and lead to lower negative affect. What is more, cross-lagged panel models with fixed effects show that these effects are not subject to reverse causality. Meanwhile, a significant effect of feeling poorer than one’s neighbors on all three outcome stresses the importance of a more nuanced view. In addition, the overall quality of interactions with neighbors and how these interactions are characterized by respondents also matter. These results caution against simplified policies to overcome social isolation and loneliness that aim at increasing social interaction within local communities irrespective of one’s standing therein and the nature of one’s everyday encounters and contacts.