"We expected social norms around work and illness to matter," said lead author Dr. Nicholas Christakis, a professor sociology and medicine. "But we were surprised by the strength of the effect."
The study analyzed data from over 2,000 working adults in the San Francisco Bay Area, and found that the number of sick days taken by a person's neighbors explained seven percent of the variation in the number of sick days the person took themselves. This effect was even stronger for people who were not actually sick, suggesting that the social norms around taking sick days can influence behavior even when people do not have a legitimate medical reason to stay home from work.
"This is a really interesting finding," said Dr. Marissa Shuffet, a psychologist who was not involved in study. "It suggests that our social environment can have a big impact on our health behaviors, even when we think we are making decisions based solely on our own personal needs."
It's important to note that this study did not examine the cause-and-effect relationship between social norms and sick days. It's possible that people who are more likely to take sick days are drawn to neighborhoods where a lot of people take sick days, or that living in neighborhoods with a lot of sick days makes people more likely to take sick days.
Regardless of the directionality of the relationship, the findings of this study underscore the importance of social context in understanding health behaviors. It suggests that we should not only focus on individual factors when trying to explain why people take sick days, but also consider the social environment in which they live.
"Our social networks and the norms that they endorse can have a powerful influence on our behavior," said Dr. Shuffet. "This is an important finding that should be considered when developing workplace health promotion programs."
