Contextualizing Meaningful Social Interactions and Momentary Well-Being in Everyday Life

Characteristics of a rich social life have been linked to positive well-being outcomes. Yet, the benefits of engaging in meaningful social interactions in the different contexts of daily life remain understudied. Using three large-scale longitudinal datasets collected from a cohort of university students over the span of 3 years ( N = 5,649 participants; ecological momentary assessments = 215,209), we examined the extent to which engagement in subjectively meaningful social interactions was associated with improvements in subsequent momentary well-being across contexts. We found that people reported experiencing less momentary stress, loneliness, and greater affective well-being after engaging in meaningful social interaction, but less benefits socializing in certain contexts (e.g., with strangers, computer-mediated channels, in public places, while dining, during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic). These findings support the idea that the people, communication channels, places, activities, and timing of meaningful social interactions matter for subsequent momentary well-being.