Egocentric Network Data Research Articles

Resilience or Risk? Evaluating Three Pathways Linking Hispanic Immigrant Networks and Health.

There are competing perspectives on the impact of Hispanic immigrants' social networks on health; the Hispanic health paradox views networks as sources of resilience, whereas the tenuous ties perspective views networks as sources of risk. In this study, I explore the effect of networks on health by examining three network pathways: social capital, social bonding, and network stress. Using egocentric social network data from the VidaSana Study, a survey of 547 Hispanic immigrants in Indiana, I investigate how each network pathway is associated with physical health, mental health, and health care utilization. Results show that networks with greater capital, namely, more network health knowledge, promote physical health and health care access, whereas social bonding, operationalized as close and dense networks, benefits mental health and health care utilization. Network stress contributes to worse mental health yet improved health care access. Implications for social networks and health research among the Hispanics and more broadly are discussed.

Navigating Complex Relationships: Support Networks Among Women in Community Corrections

In this article, we explored the social networks of 20 women who were in the process, or had completed, a sentence at a residential community corrections facility. Drawing on egocentric social network data and in-depth qualitative interviews, we analyzed the kinds of support that were most and least available to women, who were members of their network and what type of support they provided, and the role of complex relationships and peers. We found that women often relied on complex relationships and strategically navigated these relationships to access support. Many women also expressed a desire to mend and heal damaged relationships, recognizing their significance in their support system. Although peers can play a critical role in providing support to system-involved women, community corrections must invest in facilitating supportive connections and relationships among women. Ultimately, this research offers insights that can guide community corrections organizations in building and repairing women’s networks.

Syphilis Positivity Among Men Who Have Sex With Men With Direct, Indirect, and No Linkage to Female Sex Partners: Exploring the Potential for Sex Network Bridging in Baltimore City, MD.

Syphilis epidemics among women and men who have sex with men (MSM) may be connected, but these connections are poorly understood. Using egocentric network data from a US urban MSM cohort, we examined sociodemographics, behaviors, and syphilis positivity among MSM with (1) direct (MSM who report sex with women, MSMW); (2) indirect (MSM who only report male partners, some of whom are MSMW, MSMO/W); and (3) no (MSM who only report male partners and whose partners only have sex with men, MSMO/O) connection to women. Sexually active MSM aged 18 to 45 years were administered behavioral and network interviews (recall period: 3 months) and syphilis/HIV testing. Syphilis positivity was defined as rapid plasma reagin titer ≥1:8. Modified Poisson regression was used to test for differences across groups. Among 385 MSM, 14.5% were MSMW and 22.3% were MSMO/W. MSMW and MSMO/W were significantly more likely than MSMO/O to report sex behaviors associated with increased syphilis acquisition/transmission risk, including ≥2 sex partners (MSMW: adjusted prevalence ratio [aPR], 1.28 [0.98-1.68]; MSMO/W: aPR, 1.35 [1.09-1.69]) and concurrent sex partners (MSMW: aPR, 1.50 [1.17-1.92]; MSMO/W: aPR, 1.39 [1.11-1.74]), and for MSMW only, transactional sex (aPR, 2.07 [1.11-3.88]). Syphilis positivity was 16.4% and was lower among MSMW (9.4%) and MSMO/W (14.1%) than MSMO/O (18.5%), but differences were not significant. There may be considerable connectivity between MSM and female sex partners that could facilitate syphilis transmission, and behaviors that increase acquisition/transmission risk among MSMW and MSMO/W may be distinct from MSMO/O. Future work should focus on examining the context and temporal patterns of sex partnerships among MSMW and MSMO/W.

Health-related social control among U.S. adults ages 30–80: Associations with alcohol use over four years

Health-related social control (HRSC) includes efforts to regulate or influence others' health behaviors and is an important way interpersonal relationships can affect individual-level health. This study used egocentric network data to describe the size and composition of HRSC networks, identify trajectories of HRSC receipt, and examine how HRSC is related to binge drinking and alcohol-related problems. Data come from a U.S. nationally representative sample of 1235 adults age 30 and older (baseline mean age = 52, 52% female, 64% White) who completed four annual surveys between 2019 and 2022. On average, 30% of adults' network members were HRSC agents who told or reminded them to do things to protect their health. At baseline, 50% of respondents identified a spouse/partner as a HRSC agent, 56% a relative, 46% a friend, and 12% someone else. Respondents' relationships with HRSC agents were generally strong, 93% of agents were described as people “whose opinion matters,” and only 10% were described as hassling or making life difficult for the respondent. Growth mixture modeling identified five trajectories of HRSC receipt over the four-year period: Stable High (36% of sample), Stable Moderate (47%), Stable Low (14%), Decreasing (2%), and Increasing (2%). Binge drinking was relatively consistent for the three Stable HRSC classes (ranging from 11% to 15% of individuals), decreased steadily for the Increasing HRSC class (32%–16%), and fluctuated for the Decreasing HRSC class (decreasing from 10% to 2%, then increasing to 8%). For alcohol problems, the Increasing HRSC class showed the largest increase (2%–21%) before dropping to near-baseline levels (4%), whereas the Decreasing HRSC class fluctuated during the first three waves followed by no individuals reporting alcohol problems at the last wave. Results highlight the importance of examining heterogeneity in adults’ HRSC experiences because of its implications for understanding social influences on health-related behaviors.

Starting an undergraduate degree amid the COVID-19 pandemic: A mixed-method egocentric network study on student loneliness.

Students who began their undergraduate university studies in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic (the 'COVID cohort'), may have been particularly at risk for experiencing increased loneliness. This study employed an exploratory egocentric network and mixed-methods approach to investigate the links between social networks and loneliness in the COVID cohort. Of sixty-one respondents meeting inclusion criteria for the study, fifty-eight first-year undergraduate students from the September 2020 intake at a large Scottish University provided egocentric network data via an online survey, as well as responses to three open-ended questions which were aimed at generating qualitative data about participants' experiences of starting university in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Bivariate analyses suggest that having a larger social network, and higher satisfaction with that network, was associated with reduced loneliness. We additionally explored these associations in subsamples of students living on-campus and living off-campus. Our qualitative data adds valuable insight into the impact that pandemic-related social-distancing restrictions had on limiting students' opportunities for meeting their peers and forging meaningful social connections at university. Limitations of this study include a small sample size and an exploratory approach requiring further investigation and replication. However, in the context of universities continuing to use hybrid teaching models, this study provides useful initial insights, highlighting potential avenues for institutions to support students in developing social connections in the transition to higher education.

Gambling as Work: A Study of German Poker Players

The study addresses the question whether professional gamblers can be considered an occupational group from a sociological perspective. It combines survey data on poker players from the German state North Rhine-Westphalia with sociological theory in order to explain the oxymoron of professional gambling. The descriptive analysis of the survey data is supplemented by ego-centric network data of the poker players to analyze whether hobby and professional players maintain different forms of social relationships. Even when semiprofessionals and professional players are grouped together for the purpose of comparative analysis, they fulfill the criteria of occupational groups according to Salaman’s major work on the topic. The study points to the fact that more research on occupational groups outside of the common fields is needed and bridges the gap between the literature on serious leisure and sociological research on professions and professionalization.

SOCIAL BRIDGING NETWORKS AND COGNITIVE AGING AMONG OLDER ADULTS: ORIGINS IN SOCIAL CONTEXTS, ROLES, AND ACTIVITIES

Abstract There is a strong link between social connectedness and cognitive aging, with recent research pointing to social bridging being a primary underlying mechanism. Social bridging may provide cognitive enrichment through interactions with expansive, heterogeneous, and loosely interconnected social networks of weaker, peripheral ties. Drawing on egocentric social network data and cognitive assessments of 436 older adults from the Social Networks and Alzheimer’s Disease (SNAD) study, this paper explores where social bridging networks come from. We used multivariate regression to examine whether a latent social bridging factor comprised of six structural variables (network size, density, effective size, diversity, strength of weakest tie, and sole bridging status) was associated with cognitive function and social conditions. Results indicate that social bridging is significantly associated with global cognitive function (B= 0.19; p<.0001), verbal memory (B=0.26; p<.0001), and episodic memory (B=0.21; p<.0001), consistent with prior studies. Older adults who are women (b=0.40; p<.001) and have more years of education (b=0.05; p<.05) have more access to social bridging. Among community and housing characteristics, only perceived community integration is significantly correlated with higher bridging (b=0.22; p<.05). With respect to social roles, being currently married (b=0.39; p<.001) and being a volunteer (b=0.58; p<.0001) were positively associated with bridging, while being a veteran predicted lower bridging (b=-0.86; p<.0001). Among indicators of social engagement, only number of contacts in one’s phone (in 100’s) was associated with bridging (b=.16; p<.0001). Findings provide insight into social roles and activities that can be leveraged to expand bridging and improve cognitive aging outcomes.

SOCIAL CONNECTEDNESS ACROSS THE LIFE COURSE: CORE NETWORKS AND EVERYDAY SOCIAL INTERACTIONS OF AMERICAN ADULTS

Abstract Scholars have been monitoring the signs of social isolation and weakening of family ties among Americans. This paper asks: (1) Do Americans socially disengage from society as they age? (2) Are family ties replaced by work or friends as Americans grow out of their original family? Using a state representative sample of egocentric network data (Person to Person Study: P2P) and a national representative sample of time dairy data (American Time Use Survey: ATUS) during 2018-2021, we found that although people spent less social time with others as they age, they maintained a stable sized core network of confidants for discussing important and health matters. This refutes the view that old age has a universal negative influence on social connectedness. We found little evidence that family ties are replaced by non-kins at any age in both core network and daily social contact. By combining core network and time dairy data, we found that although people spent substantial time with coworkers daily when they enter the workforce, they rarely included even a single coworker into their core network. This suggests that people’s core network is less influenced by current daily social interactions than many theories on social contact would predict. We speculate that people may organize their core network based on cumulative time they spend with a particular person over the life course rather than current time. The roles of life events and age in shaping changes in daily interactions and core network over the life course are further discussed.

A social network analysis model approach to understand tuberculosis transmission in remote rural Madagascar

BackgroundQuality surveillance data used to build tuberculosis (TB) transmission models are frequently unavailable and may overlook community intrinsic dynamics that impact TB transmission. Social network analysis (SNA) generates data on hyperlocal social-demographic structures that contribute to disease transmission.MethodsWe collected social contact data in five villages and built SNA-informed village-specific stochastic TB transmission models in remote Madagascar. A name-generator approach was used to elicit individual contact networks. Recruitment included confirmed TB patients, followed by snowball sampling of named contacts. Egocentric network data were aggregated into village-level networks. Network- and individual-level characteristics determining contact formation and structure were identified by fitting an exponential random graph model (ERGM), which formed the basis of the contact structure and model dynamics. Models were calibrated and used to evaluate WHO-recommended interventions and community resiliency to foreign TB introduction.ResultsInter- and intra-village SNA showed variable degrees of interconnectivity, with transitivity (individual clustering) values of 0.16, 0.29, and 0.43. Active case finding and treatment yielded 67%–79% reduction in active TB disease prevalence and a 75% reduction in TB mortality in all village networks. Following hypothetical TB elimination and without specific interventions, networks A and B showed resilience to both active and latent TB reintroduction, while Network C, the village network with the highest transitivity, lacked resiliency to reintroduction and generated a TB prevalence of 2% and a TB mortality rate of 7.3% after introduction of one new contagious infection post hypothetical elimination.ConclusionIn remote Madagascar, SNA-informed models suggest that WHO-recommended interventions reduce TB disease (active TB) prevalence and mortality while TB infection (latent TB) burden remains high. Communities’ resiliency to TB introduction decreases as their interconnectivity increases. “Top down” population level TB models would most likely miss this difference between small communities. SNA bridges large-scale population-based and hyper focused community-level TB modeling.

Social influence and reduction of animal protein consumption among young adults: Insights from a socio-psychological model

Studying the drivers of animal protein consumption (APC), beyond just meat consumption, is of great importance as reducing APC has a high potential to mitigate climate change and other environmental issues. One known determinant of food behavior is the social environment. However, in pro-environmental literature, social contacts' influence on meat consumption is often limited to normative influence (social norms). Moreover, when social influence on other pro-environmental food behavior is examined, only the direct association without possibly underlying mechanisms and mostly short-term behaviors rather than usual dietary patterns are addressed. This study addresses these gaps by examining the pathways of mechanisms behind the influence of perceived APC reduction behavior by close social contacts on behavior - in our case self-reported APC behavior (social influence) among young adults (age 18–35). We propose a conceptual model that integrates traditional social influence theories from communication science and social psychological theories and considers social contacts' behavior an antecedent of TPB and NAM constructs. Cross-sectional survey data, including egocentric network data, were collected in January 2022 through an online citizen panel among 204 young adults. The results of Partial Least Squares – Structural Equation Modeling suggest that social contacts' perceived APC reduction behavior influences multiple psychological constructs beyond social norms (awareness of consequences, perceived behavioral control, social norms, and attitude) simultaneously. All constructs except for social norms are internalized into a personal norm, which then leads to an increased intention to reduce APC and a decreased self-reported APC. Altogether, our study identified mechanisms behind social influence, which can also be applied to other behaviors. Leveraging close social contacts may be a promising pathway for policy and changemakers to stimulate the internalization of psychological constructs related to APC reduction.

Social disadvantage, context and network dynamics in later life

How do personal networks evolve as individuals age? To what degree do social disadvantage and contextual factors matter for network dynamics in later life? This paper answers these two questions based on egocentric network data of older adults over a ten-year period. Specifically, I use longitudinal and nationally representative data on 1,168 older adults from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project. I use between-within models to separate the within- and between-individual effects of sociodemographic characteristics and contextual factors on three aspects of social connectedness in later life: network size, frequency of contact, and proportion of kin. Patterns of network change vary among people of different races and ethnicities as well as educational levels. Black and Hispanic respondents have a significantly smaller network size and a higher average frequency of contact with confidants. Moreover, Hispanic respondents have a higher proportion of kin in the network, compared to White respondents. Similarly, older adults with less education have a smaller network size, higher frequency of contact and higher proportion of kin in their confidant networks compared to those who attended college. Older adults who have better mental health are more likely to have a higher frequency of contact and higher proportion of kin. When an older adult starts to work for pay, their frequency of contact with confidants tends to increase. Older adults living in neighborhoods with stronger social ties are more likely to have a larger network size, higher frequency of contact, and lower proportion of kin in their confidant network. The above results show that disadvantaged backgrounds and contextual factors are associated with certain less favorable network characteristics, which helps to explain the concentration of social disadvantage on certain populations.

Understanding social network support, composition, and structure among cancer caregivers.

We examined the social network support, composition, and structure of pediatric cancer caregivers. We used a self-report survey to collect egocentric social network data from 107 caregivers of pediatric cancer patients and calculated descriptive statistics to examine cancer-related support network composition, function, and structure. We then ran logistic regressions to examine the relationships between network characteristics and overall satisfaction with social support. Family members were the most common source of emotional support and logistical support, and health care providers were the most common source of informational support. Participants perceived the "most helpful" forms of support as being: (1) emotional support from family and health care providers; (2) informational support from health care providers and other cancer caregivers; and (3) logistical support from family. Overall, caregivers wished that 9.8% of their network ties had provided more support, with family members being the most common alter type to disappoint caregivers and offer less support than needed/expected. Caregivers who reported higher network disappointment (having network members who offered less support than needed/expected) were significantly less satisfied with emotional support than those with lower network disappointment (Odds Ratio=0.18, p=0.02), and caregivers with higher network disappointment were significantly less satisfied with logistical support compared to those with lower network disappointment (Odds Ratio=0.14, p=0.01). Our results show differences in the nature of social support provided by different types of network members. These findings have implications for tailoring social network interventions to improve caregiver and family outcomes.

Sexual mixing patterns in men who have sex with men: network approaches for smart resource allocation.

Age-based sexual mixing patterns in men who have sex with men (MSM) can greatly inform strategic allocation of intervention resources to subsets of the population for the purpose of preventing the greatest number of new HIV infections. Egocentric network data collected from MSM participating in annual HIV sentinel surveillance surveys were used to assess age-dependent mixing and to explore its epidemiological implications on the risk of HIV transmission risk (among those HIV-infected) and HIV acquisition risk (among those not infected). Mixing in this sample of 1605 Chinese MSM is relatively age assortative (the average of values expressing the degree of preferential mixing were 2.01 in diagonal cells vs 0.87 in off-diagonal cells). Expected numbers of HIV acquisition were highest in the 20-24years age group; those for HIV transmissions were highest among 25-29year olds. The risk of both acquisition and transmission was highest in age groups that immediately follow the most commonly reported ages of sexual debut in this population (i.e. age 20). These findings suggest that combination prevention resources should be targeted at younger MSM who are at higher risk of both transmission and acquisition. Programs may also do well to target even younger age groups who have not yet debuted in order to establish prevention effects before risky sexual behaviours begin. More research on optimal strategies to access these harder-to-reach subsets of the MSM population is needed. Findings also support ongoing efforts for public health practitioners to collect network data in key populations to support more empirically driven strategies to target prevention resources.

Increased Bridging Characteristics in Social Networks are Associated with Increasing Amygdala Volume and Grey Matter Density

AbstractBackgroundSocial connectedness has been linked to decreased rates of cognitive decline particularly among older adults (Fratiglioni et al., 2004). Several studies have demonstrated that access to an expansive network of diverse, and loosely connected individuals (i.e., social bridging) plays a particularly unique role in conferring resilience against cognitive decline (Perry et al., 2021). We explored the association of social bridging with cortical atrophy measured by gray matter density (GMD) in cognitively normal (CN), subjective cognitive decline (SCD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) participants from the Social Networks and Alzheimer’s Disease (SNAD) at the Indiana Alzheimer Disease Research Center.MethodWe analyzed baseline data of 176 SNAD participants (63 CN, 54 SCD, 47 MCI, 12 AD). Social bridging metrics were collected via in‐person interviews of egocentric social network data. MCI and AD were combined into a cognitively impaired group, resulting in 3 diagnostic groups (CN, SCD, CI). Demographic and biomarker differences across groups were analyzed using ANOVA. Pooled linear regressions were run with ROIs as the dependent variables and diagnosis, age, sex, education, and social bridging as regressors. A voxel‐wise multiple linear regression of GMD images in SPM12 yielded statistical maps across the pooled sample.ResultTable 1 shows the demographic and biomarker comparisons of all groups. The linear regression showed greater social bridging was associated with larger left and right amygdala volume (both p=0.01), and trending larger left frontal thickness (p=0.055), and left and right insula thickness (both p=0.09). Figure 1 and Figure 2 show scatterplot distribution of significant and trending brain regions versus bridging by diagnostic group with regression p‐values and lines. Statistical maps show increasing social bridging is associated with increasing GMD lateralized to the left hemisphere with a frontotemporoparietal pattern (Figure 3).ConclusionWe found that the effects of particular social enrichment on GMD, such as social bridging, are localized to regions primarily involving motivation and emotion. The left lateralization suggests this hemisphere’s propensity for protection against cognitive decline via social mechanisms. Future work should investigate potential associations between social bridging and amyloid and tau deposition.

Increased Bridging Characteristics in Social Networks are Associated with Increasing Amygdala Volume and Grey Matter Density

AbstractBackgroundSocial connectedness has been linked to decreased rates of cognitive decline particularly among older adults (Fratiglioni et al., 2004). Several studies have demonstrated that access to an expansive network of diverse, and loosely connected individuals (i.e., social bridging) plays a particularly unique role in conferring resilience against cognitive decline (Perry et al., 2021). We explored the association of social bridging with cortical atrophy measured by gray matter density (GMD) in cognitively normal (CN), subjective cognitive decline (SCD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) participants from the Social Networks and Alzheimer’s Disease (SNAD) at the Indiana Alzheimer Disease Research Center.Method:We analyzed baseline data of 176 SNAD participants (63 CN, 54 SCD, 47 MCI, 12 AD). Social bridging metrics were collected via in‐person interviews of egocentric social network data. MCI and AD were combined into a cognitively impaired group, resulting in 3 diagnostic groups (CN, SCD, CI). Demographic and biomarker differences across groups were analyzed using ANOVA. Pooled linear regressions were run with ROIs as the dependent variables and diagnosis, age, sex, education, and social bridging as regressors. A voxel‐wise multiple linear regression of GMD images in SPM12 yielded statistical maps across the pooled sample.ResultTable 1 shows the demographic and biomarker comparisons of all groups. The linear regression showed greater social bridging was associated with larger left and right amygdala volume (both p=0.01), and trending larger left frontal thickness (p=0.055), and left and right insula thickness (both p=0.09). Figure 1 and Figure 2 show scatterplot distribution of significant and trending brain regions versus bridging by diagnostic group with regression p‐values and lines. Statistical maps show increasing social bridging is associated with increasing GMD lateralized to the left hemisphere with a frontotemporoparietal pattern (Figure 3).ConclusionWe found that the effects of particular social enrichment on GMD, such as social bridging, are localized to regions primarily involving motivation and emotion. The left lateralization suggests this hemisphere’s propensity for protection against cognitive decline via social mechanisms. Future work should investigate potential associations between social bridging and amyloid and tau deposition.

Advances and innovations in methods for collecting egocentric network data

This article reviews recent methodological research that bears on the collection of egocentric network data. It begins with background on setting egocentric network boundaries and principal types of instruments that obtain information about such networks. It then discusses innovations in data collection and studies of data quality. The bulk of these address questions about “name generator” instruments that obtain information about the alters and relationships in a subject's network. Among topics receiving substantial attention in recent research are mitigation of respondent burden, interviewer effects, survey mode, and the performance of name generators in longitudinal studies. Potentially fruitful innovations supplement conventional question-and-answer surveys with visual elements that promise to better engage respondents and reduce the demands that name generator-based data collection poses. We close by highlighting both accomplishments of this body of research and some open issues.

Random sampling of alters from networks: A promising direction in egocentric network research

The social network perspective has great potential for advancing knowledge of social mechanisms in many fields. However, collecting egocentric (i.e., personal) network data is costly and places a heavy burden on respondents. This is especially true of the task used to elicit information on ties between network members (i.e., alter-alter ties or density matrix), which grows exponentially in length as network size increases. While most existing national surveys circumvent this problem by capping the number of network members that can be named, this strategy has major limitations. Here, we apply random sampling of network members to reduce cost, respondent burden, and error in network studies. We examine the effectiveness and reliability of random sampling in simulated and real-world egocentric network data. We find that in estimating sample/population means of network measures, randomly selecting a small number of network members produces only minor errors, regardless of true network size. For studies that use network measures in regressions, randomly selecting the mean number of network members (e.g., randomly selecting 10 alters when mean network size is 10) is enough to recover estimates of network measures that correlate close to 1 with those of the full sample. We conclude with recommendations for best practices that will make this versatile but resource intensive methodology accessible to a wider group of researchers without sacrificing data quality.

Age-Based Mixing and Condom Use Patterns in Opposite-Sex Adult Partnerships in Hong Kong.

Background Age-based sexual mixing data can guide design and implementation of sexually transmitted infection (STI) control interventions. It can also inform the parameterization of mathematical models of HIV and STI transmission. Data on mixing in heterosexual adults are uncommon, particularly in East Asian regions. Methods In June 2020, egocentric network data collected from sexually active adults in Hong Kong 18 or years participating in an online, population-based survey were used to assess age-dependent contacts and condom use patterns. Age-based mixing matrices of heterosexual partnerships were constructed separately according to sex and partnership type. Results Data from 1090 partnerships indicated highly assortative mixing among regular partners. Casual and commercial partners had larger age discrepancies, with both men and women reporting partners of the same age or younger age group. Regarding condom use, older age groups of both sexes reported less consistent use with all partner types. Particularly inconsistent use was noted in combinations of older men with younger casual/commercial female partners. Conclusions Our findings provide novel insights potentially useful for forming sexual health and STI control policy. First, the disassortative nature of casual and commercial partnerships in both men and women suggests that they may be a mechanism for the seeding of younger generations and therefore a target of health interventions. Second, health communications may wish to target older men in particular given their higher tendency to condomless sex with casual and commercial female partners in the youngest—and therefore most susceptible—age groups, indicating a lack of the sex symmetry that was observed in regular partnerships.

Life course transitions and changes in network ties among younger and older adults.

Several theories of the life course highlight the importance of social connections and ties for coping with transitions that occur at different ages. Individuals rely on family, friends, and colleagues to adapt to these transitions which may in turn change the composition of their networks. Yet, little is known about the association between life cycle transitions and changes in network characteristics. We used fixed effects regression models with three waves of egocentric network data from the UC Berkeley Social Network Study (UCNets) to examine how career- and family-related life cycle transitions during two key life stages-young adulthood and the transition from middle to old age-are associated with network turnover, the proportion of the network comprised of kin, and confidence in receiving support from personal networks. Younger adults experienced churn following a birth and marriage or partnership, while no life transition was associated with changes in proportion kin, and only with the birth of a child did confidence decline. Among older adults, no transition was associated with any measured event, suggesting that older adults maintain more stable relationships compared to young adults and can weather life events without significant disruptions to their networks.

Causal Relationships between Personal Networks and Health: A Comparison of Three Modeling Strategies.

Prior research documents associations between personal network characteristics and health, but establishing causation has been a long-standing research priority. To evaluate approaches to causal inference in egocentric network data, this article uses three waves from the University of California Berkeley Social Networks Study (N = 1,159) to investigate connections between nine network variables and two global health outcomes. We compare three modeling strategies: cross-sectional ordinary least squares regression, regression with lagged dependent variables (LDVs), and hybrid fixed and random effects models. Results suggest that cross-sectional and LDV models may overestimate the causal effects of networks on health because hybrid models show that network-health associations operate primarily between individuals, as opposed to network changes causing within-individual changes in health. These findings demonstrate uses of panel data that may advance scholarship on networks and health and suggest that causal effects of network support on health may be more limited than previously thought.