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Originally Posted by Dirty
No problem. I went back and found a great book I read last semester for one of Sociology courses.
AwwSugar, the definition you gave pertains to a society and it's social health. For an INDIVIDUAL though, social health is being a part of the society they exist in. Being engaged in activity, having friends, being social. Basically being a part of something and conforming to the societal norms, "fitting in" to an extent which provides confidence and encouragement. And I don't mean "fitting in" like being considered cool in high school or something like that. Just being a part of society by being a member who participates, and not isolated which is a good way to get yourself depressed. Being active and social gives you self esteem and confidence and encouragement. That's what I think social health is.
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Does every relationship with all of your friends qualify as an intimate one? Intimacy is one thing, and I don't deny that it is a genuine need for intimacy people have, not socialisation as you are defining it. It even states that intimacy is special, so obviously you're not going to have it in ALL of your relationships with other people.
Being engaged in activity and having friends is GREAT, don't get me wrong but conforming to have them is not something you should advocate. If you change yourself just to fit in and repress your true self, it is extremely unhealthy. Friends should be people who understand you and accept you for WHO YOU ARE and not who you are pretending to be. There's no intimacy in those types of relationships and they are very damaging to one's self image. It's a blatant message of "You have to change WHO YOU ARE otherwise, people won't like you". Um, no, if that's the case, you should find people who do like you for who you are. People should be free to fly their freak flags, and have freaky friends. Being accepted should not be a goal, accepting yourself should be.
Besides, being part of a group is not necessarily the best thing for everyone. You forget take in account that some people are naturally introverted, and prefer solitude over sociability.