Changes In Social Networks Research Articles

Residential tourism and eudaimonic well-being: A ‘value-adding’ analysis

This study aims to explore the linkage between residential tourism and eudaimonic well-being. A “value-adding” approach is applied to this analysis with an extended interpretation. Residential tourism involves a prolonged stay in a destination and thus can lead to fundamental changes in environment, lifestyle, social networks, and values. Residential tourist experience is found to have profound impacts on individuals' eudaimonic well-being in the eight aspects of autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth, purpose in life, the extension of youth, positive relations with others, self-acceptance, and inner peace. This study advances Ryff's (1989) eudaimonic well-being model and contributes to tourism and mobility research. Implications for residential tourists and destination managers are also provided.

Changes in Personal Social Networks across Individuals Leaving Their Street Gang: Just What Are Youth Leaving Behind?

Despite a small but growing literature on gang disengagement and desistance, little is known about how social networks and changes in networks correspond to self-reported changes in street gang membership over time. The current study describes the personal or “ego” network composition of 228 street gang members in two east coast cities in the United States. The study highlights changes in personal network composition associated with changes in gang membership over two waves of survey data, describing notable differences between those who reported leaving their gang and fully disengaging from their gang associates, and those who reported leaving but still participate and hang out with their gang friends. Results show some positive changes (i.e., reductions) in criminal behavior and many changes toward an increase in prosocial relationships for those who fully disengaged from their street gang, versus limited changes in both criminal behavior and network composition over time for those who reported leaving but remained engaged with their gang. The findings suggest that gang intervention programs that increase access to or support building prosocial relationships may assist the gang disengagement process and ultimately buoy desistance from crime. The study also has implications for theorizing about gang and crime desistance, in that the role of social ties should take a more central role.

Itinerant Assemblages and Material Networks: the Application of Assemblage Theory to Networks in Archaeology

This paper explores the potential for Assemblage Theory to contribute to current approaches in network thinking in Archaeology. I argue that Assemblage Theory offers improved explanatory models for understanding relationality and how social networks aggregate, change, and disassemble over time at multiple scales. In recent years, network approaches in Archaeology have encouraged the study of complex assemblages. To complement these studies, I argue for the productivity of broadening traditional definitions of assemblage to one that does not discriminate between assemblages of itinerant objects in dispersed networks and those situated within a self-contained site. Following Assemblage Theory, I therefore suggest that assemblage is best defined as a cluster of emergent, relational phenomena and that materials, human actants, forces, and other matter need not be confined to any one geographically delineated space in order to constitute an assemblage. To evaluate the possibilities for Assemblage Theory applications, I examine the movements of walrus ivory objects across the North Atlantic and continental Europe, ca. 800–1550 CE. A reconstruction of the extended network involved in these itinerant materials reveals patterns of material movements informed by economic behavior and political change. The application of Assemblage Theory to this model offers a valuable theoretical foundation to address the interconnected agency and relationality of network entities and components. This approach allows for greater complexity and specificity in identifying and explaining the material networks which generated economic change between medieval Europe and Africa.

An exploration of perceived social isolation among persons with spinal cord injury in Ontario, Canada: a qualitative study

Purpose To advance the understanding of perceived social isolation among persons with spinal cord injury (SCI), the objectives of the present study were to explore: (1) experiences of perceived social isolation and (2) factors that contribute to perceived social isolation. Methods Interpretive description qualitative methodology was used to conduct semi-structured interviews with 30 individuals with SCI from across Ontario (Canada) from November 2016 to August 2017. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results Participants identified disruption to social networks that seemed to impact perceived social isolation. Five major themes were identified: (1) impact on structure and frequency of social network; (2) importance of feeling heard; (3) importance of employment, hobbies, and sports; (4) need to improve physical accessibility and built environment; and (5) individual characteristics. Changes in quality of social networks, rather than size, contributed to greater feelings of perceived social isolation. The built environment, maintenance of employment, hobbies, and sports, social media, and technology use, as well as individual traits, were also found to impact perceived social isolation. Conclusion Future research should focus on the development of programs to help maintain or improve social network quality for persons with SCI to minimize the impact of perceived social isolation. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION Perceived social isolation, resulting from physical and environmental barriers, is a challenge that is faced by many individuals who are living in the community with a spinal cord injury (SCI). Rehabilitation and community programs should utilize an individualized approach to find solutions to challenges faced by this population to prevent the effects of perceived social isolation. Education on how to adapt to changes in social network, together with the provision of access to peer-to-peer support groups, and SCI specific return to work or leisure programs, is recommended as an essential component of rehabilitation.

Changes in Social Networks as a Response to Loneliness Among Older Adults

The expression of loneliness suggests perceived social isolation and the lack of meaningful, rewarding and desired social connections. In this paper we seek to estimate whether loneliness among older adults is related to subsequent changes in two attributes of their social networks, i.e. the size and frequency of contact with network members. We use the Panel on Health and Ageing of Singaporean Elderly, a nationally representative study of older adults aged 60 years and older, conducted in 2009 (N=4990) with two follow-up waves in 2011 and 2015, and measure loneliness in terms of relational connectedness, i.e. feeling a lack of companionship, and social connectedness, i.e. feeling left out. Our preliminary analysis shows that loneliness is associated with a subsequent reduction in the size but not strength of social networks. We further propose to assess the causal relationship using cross-lagged panel analysis, thereby accounting for the possibility of a reciprocal relationship.

‘Adulting’ Is Hard: Understanding the College-to-Career Transition and Supporting Young Adults’ Emotional Wellbeing

The transition from college to career includes many challenges, such as adjusting to a professional environment, the high costs of student loan repayment and independent living, and changes in social support networks. Many of these challenges affect a young person’s emotional wellbeing; however, limited attention has been paid in the literature or at the practice level to the emotional wellbeing of college graduates as they transition from college to career. To address this underrecognized issue, investigators from The Jed Foundation (JED), a leading nonprofit organization with a mission to protect the emotional health and prevent suicide among teens and young adults, and the Transitions to Adulthood Center for Research (Transitions ACR) at the University of Massachusetts Medical School collaborated on a study to better understand the experiences of young adults during the college-to-career transition and how these experiences effect emotional wellbeing.

Are members of mutual aid groups better equipped for addiction recovery? European cross-sectional study into recovery capital, social networks, and commitment to sobriety

An increasing body of evidence shows that informal mutual aid groups benefit those in addiction recovery. However, attention for mutual aid groups in practice and policy varies internationally and is only recently emerging in continental Europe. Existing evidence is mostly limited to studies of Alcoholics Anonymous groups in the United States. The aim of this cross-sectional study is to examine the relationship between membership of a variety of mutual aid groups and recovery capital, participation in social networks, and commitment to sobriety for individuals in drug addiction recovery (N = 367), living in the UK, the Netherlands, and Belgium. A convenience sample of participants completed an extensive assessment about their recovery experiences. Sixty-nine percent of participants reported lifetime (ever) membership of different mutual aid groups. Analyses reveal that membership of mutual aid groups is strongly associated with more participation and (self-reported) changes in social networks, greater levels of recovery capital, and a stronger commitment to sobriety. The findings suggest that participation in mutual aid groups may support addiction recovery through multiple mechanisms of change in favor of recovery. These findings highlight how mutual aid support may complement formal addiction treatment.

Socially Endangered Families in the Solidarity Network

The paper is oriented toward an empirical examination of the characteristics of social networks of socially deprived families. The topic is set within the context of previous sociological studies into this problem, and then observed in a wider milieu of social relations and mapped onto the social reality of socially deprived families in Serbia. The idea is to employ an analysis of the narratives from the respondents’ in-depth interviews from a temporal perspective of the past and present so as to detect the changes in social networks with regard to the altered social context. The previous (socialist) period was determined by the dominant role of the state in the resolution of crucial social problems of families, while the transition (present) is defined by a reduction in the importance of the state and the transfer of this role to the family itself or, partially, to the private sector. At the practical level, the paper will show which types of networks are activated under these changing structural circumstances and what their role is in the lives of socially deprived families. Thus, solidarity networks are understood as an alternative to the withdrawal of the state from the social security system in the neoliberal global concept of the state, now linked to the selective, discriminatory clientelistic practices which emerged over the past thirty years. The findings stem from the analysis of the qualitative material obtained by in-depth interviews of 25 families whose status is characterized by social deprivation. Typologically speaking, it is the case of families receiving social welfare, accompanied by Romani, single-parent, pensioner, and small agricultural families.

Using multilayer network analysis to explore the temporal dynamics of collective behavior.

Social organisms often show collective behaviors such as group foraging or movement. Collective behaviors can emerge from interactions between group members and may depend on the behavior of key individuals. When social interactions change over time, collective behaviors may change because these behaviors emerge from interactions among individuals. Despite the importance of, and growing interest in, the temporal dynamics of social interactions, it is not clear how to quantify changes in interactions over time or measure their stability. Furthermore, the temporal scale at which we should observe changes in social networks to detect biologically meaningful changes is not always apparent. Here we use multilayer network analysis to quantify temporal dynamics of social networks of the social spider Stegodyphus dumicola and determine how these dynamics relate to individual and group behaviors. We found that social interactions changed over time at a constant rate. Variation in both network structure and the identity of a keystone individual was not related to the mean or variance of the collective prey attack speed. Individuals that maintained a large and stable number of connections, despite changes in network structure, were the boldest individuals in the group. Therefore, social interactions and boldness are linked across time, but group collective behavior is not influenced by the stability of the social network. Our work demonstrates that dynamic social networks can be modeled in a multilayer framework. This approach may reveal biologically important temporal changes to social structure in other systems.

Personal health information management among healthy older adults: Varying needs and approaches.

With age, older adults experience a greater number of chronic diseases and medical visits, and an increased need to manage their health information. Technological advances in consumer health information technologies (HITs) help patients gather, track, and organize their health information within and outside of clinical settings. However, HITs have not focused on the needs of older adults and their caregivers. The goal of the SOARING (Studying Older Adults and Researching their Information Needs and Goals) Project was to understand older adult personal health information management (PHIM) needs and practices to inform the design of HITs that support older adults. Drawing on the Work System Model, we took an ecological approach to investigate PHIM needs and practices of older adults in different residential settings. We conducted in-depth interviews and surveys with adults 60 years of age and older. We performed on-site in-person interview sessions with 88 generally healthy older adults in various settings including independent housing, retirement communities, assisted living, and homelessness. Our analysis revealed 5 key PHIM activities that older adults engage in: seeking, tracking, organizing, sharing health information, and emergency planning. We identified 3 major themes influencing older adults' practice of PHIM: (1) older adults are most concerned with maintaining health and preventing illness, (2) older adults frequently involve others in PHIM activities, and (3) older adults' approach to PHIM is situational and context-dependent. Older adults' approaches to PHIM are dynamic and sensitive to changes in health, social networks, personal habits, motivations, and goals. PHIM tools that meet the needs of older adults should accommodate the dynamic nature of aging and variations in individual, organizational, and social contexts.

Reader response: An observational study on quality of life and preferences to sustain life in locked-in state.

The finding of a good subjective quality of life (QoL) by Kuzma-Kozakiewicz et al.1 in patients with ALS in locked-in state (LIS) confirms our previous results.2 Although we agree with the authors and editorial3 that it is now necessary to conduct longitudinal studies starting at earlier disease stages, we would even set their starting points far before patients decide over mechanical ventilation to understand how this decision is influenced by internal states such as subjective QoL in interaction with external conditions. However, we mainly stress the need to gain more distinctive insights into the psychologic adaptation process underlying such outcomes in future work, taking patients but also their next of kin (NOK) into account. In this regard, what have been the SEIQol domains noted as important by patients and their NOK and how was the NOK's own QoL, considering that NOK often do not adapt properly?2 Beyond the selection bias of such studies, it is time to look deeper into social network changes,4 socioeconomic/religious factors5—but also patient's secondary morbid gain—and the question to what extent it occurs at the expense of their beloved ones. Finally, how significant are such results concerning end-of-life decisions and presumed patients' will beyond ALS?

Social capital across the life course: Accumulation, diminution, or segregation?

AbstractThis study examines changes in individual social capital during adult life within a 19-year period. Social capital theory and life course theory are combined, and it is argued that changes in social networks do not necessarily go together with changes in social capital: while personal networks are known to decline in size with age, social capital can be expected to accumulate, in particular for those who had a better starting position and therefore more resources to share. Panel data from the survey of the social networks of the Dutch (SSND) (1999–2018) at four points of measurement are employed to inquire into this argument. Social capital is measured by the position generator instrument, and three indicators, that is, resource extensity, mean prestige access, and resource range are analyzed. Results of fixed effect models show that, on average, people maintain access to social capital, and that men and higher educated gain social capital through their life as opposed to women and lower educated. Implications for the understanding of the reproduction of social inequality are discussed. The paper concludes with a reflection upon the value of ego-centered network analysis in the era of big data and data science.

Effects of a Physical Activity Program Potentiated with ICTs on the Formation and Dissolution of Friendship Networks of Children in a Middle-Income Country.

This paper assesses the potential cohesion effect of a physical activity (PA) school-based intervention potentiated using text messages (SMS) through analyzing longitudinally the friendship network structure and the mechanisms of the formation and dissolution of friendships. Three schools (n = 125 participants) in Bogotá, Colombia, were randomly assigned into three groups: Modulo Activo Recreo Activo (MARA) + SMS (networks 1 and 2), MARA (networks 3 and 4), and control (no intervention: networks 5–7). We collected socio-economic, health-related, network structure, and intervention satisfaction variables in the baseline and after 10 weeks on July–November 2013. For each classroom network, we conducted four models using a temporal and static network approach to assess (1) temporal social network changes, (2) friendship homophily, (3) friendship formation and dissolution mechanisms, and (4) effect of SMS on the networks’ cohesion. We found that (1) social cohesion emerged in the four intervened networks that were measured over time with transitivity and homophily driven by clustering, (2) the intervention affected the mechanisms of friendship formation and dissolution, and (3) MARA + SMS on average created more social cohesion and 3.8 more friendships than the program alone. Potentially, school-based interventions with information and communication technologies (ICT) such as MARA + SMS could encourage social cohesion among children. The particular characteristics of each school network need to be considered when developing school-based interventions.

Organizational Redesign, Knowledge Transfer, and the Formation of New Boundary-Spanning Ties

In this study we examine the interplay between change in formal structure and informal social networks within organizations. Drawing on social capital and social exchange theories, we derive hypotheses about how interaction between cohesion and diversity in personal advice networks that organizational participants maintain before an organizational redesign affects their propensity to form boundary- spanning ties after it. We test our hypotheses using new data that we have collected within a large healthcare organization that has recently experienced a major organizational redesign and change. The results indicate that both cohesion and diversity of personal advice networks significantly affect the propensity of organizational participants to access knowledge across boundaries after a change in internal organizational structures and processes. In line with our hypotheses, the results also suggest that cohesion and diversity have opposite effects on the propensity of organizational participants to access knowledge across boundaries after the change depending on their dominant network role (sender or recipient) in the network of informal advice relations before the change. We discuss the implications of these findings for research on organizational change, knowledge transfer, and intra-organizational networks.

Social Network Change after Moving into Permanent Supportive Housing: Who Stays and Who Goes?

Social relationships are important among persons experiencing homelessness, but there is little research on changes in social networks among persons moving into permanent supportive housing (PSH). Using data collected as part of a longitudinal study of 405 adults (aged 39+) moving into PSH, this study describes network upheaval during this critical time of transition. Interviews conducted prior to and after three months of living in PSH assessed individual-level characteristics (demographics, homelessness history, health and mental health) and included a social network component that assessed network size and composition (demographics, relationship type, social support); interviewers utilized network member characteristics to assess whether network members were new or sustained between baseline and 3 months post-housing. Multilevel logistic regression models assessed what characteristics of network members were associated with being newly-gained or persisting in networks 3 months after moving into PSH. We found that only one-third of social networks were retained during the transition to PSH, and that veterans, African Americans and other persons of racial/ethnic minorities, and those living in scattered-site housing were more likely to experience network disruption. Relatives, romantic partners, and service providers were most likely to be retained after move-in. Some network change was moderated by tie strength, including the retention of street-met persons. Implications are discussed.

Partnering and parenting transitions in Australian men and women: associations with changes in weight, domain-specific physical activity and sedentary behaviours

BackgroundPartnering and parenting are important life-stage transitions often accompanied by changes in social networks, roles and responsibilities. There have been no longitudinal studies examining associations of partnering and parenting with changes in domain-specific physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviours, and our understanding of whether these transitions are associated with weight change is limited.MethodsTwo thousand one hundred and twenty-four Australian adults from a national cohort (mean age 31.7 (2.7) years, 47.5% male) completed questionnaires at baseline (2004–06) and follow-up (2009–11), reporting marital and parental status. Weight (kg) was measured at baseline and self-reported at follow-up. PA and sedentary behaviours (sitting and television (TV) viewing) were self-reported in a subset (n = 1221). Linear regression estimated the longitudinal associations of parenting and partnering transitions with PA, sedentary behaviours and weight at follow-up, adjusted for baseline value of the respective outcome variable, age, education, follow-up duration and other life-stage transition.ResultsDuring the 5-year follow-up, 17.3% men and 12.9% women partnered, and 27.3% men and 19.1% women had their first child. Compared to staying not partnered, partnering was associated with an increase in total PA (177.5mins/week, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 18.0 to 337.0) among men and a greater weight gain (2.2 kg, 95% CI 0.6 to 3.7) among women. Compared to remaining child-free, having a first child was associated with greater reductions in total PA (− 123.9mins/week, 95% CI − 248.8 to 1.1) and TV viewing time (− 27.0mins/day, 95% CI − 50.6 to − 3.3) among men. Women who had their first child had greater weight gain (1.4 kg, 95% CI 0.1 to 2.7) but spent less time sitting (− 103.8mins/day, 95% CI − 135.5 to − 72.1) than those remaining child-free. For women, having additional children was associated with less sitting time (− 39.4mins/week, 95% CI − 66.0 to − 12.8) than having the same number of children.ConclusionsPartnering was associated with an increase in men’s total PA and women’s weight. Transitions into parenthood with a first child or additional children were associated with potentially health-impairing changes in weight and PA, but health-promoting changes in sedentary behaviours. Future PA promotion strategies should pay attention to men who had their first child to mitigate declining total PA.

Bounded Solidarity and Mobile Technology: The Decline of Core Networks in Kerala

We examine whether the widespread adoption of mobile technology is associated with changes in core social networks over the main decade of mobile diffusion in India. We focus primarily on network size, as well as the type and location of relationships. Grounded in interaction ritual theory, Ling’s bounded solidarity thesis suggests that mobile communication may reconfigure social bonds, leading to a focus on family and friends over workmates and acquaintances, as well as more local networks. This study analyses data from three waves of data (2002–2013) from the state of Kerala. Our key findings are generally consistent with bounded solidarity: family ties increased at the expense of work ties, and there was a shift away from regional and international ties towards local relationships.

A statistical approach for social network change detection: an ERGM based framework

Social networks have an important role in today’s lifestyle and detecting any changes in their structure could be vital for social systems. Change detection in a social process could be complicated because of stochastic and complex manners of its component’s which are humans. In this article, a novel approach is proposed which model and analyze social networks’ structure. For this purpose, the proposed method combines the nodal attributes with structural tendencies of ERGMs to find the best fitting model which can properly define humans’ characteristics in the observed network. Then, to detect any changes in the proposed model Hotelling T2 and MEWMA control charts are employed. Experimental simulation study and data analysis demonstrated the efficiency of the proposed technique to detect changes and its sensitivity in finding anomalies.

Economic crisis and social capital in European societies: the role of politics in understanding short-term changes in social capital

ABSTRACT How did the economic crisis impact social capital in European societies? The empirical studies conducted so far provide contradictory conclusions about the strength and direction of its influence. We argue that to better understand the effects of the economic crisis on social capital (social trust, formal and informal networks) it is crucial to examine both its impact on people’s economic situation and the way it reshaped the relationship between individuals and political institutions and altered key political factors (political trust, the welfare state, political activism). Our analysis of European Social Survey data between 2006 and 2012 shows that changes in social trust were smaller than in formal and informal social networks. It also confirms that political factors played an important mediating role in producing these changes: changes in social trust and formal networks can especially be explained by the impact of the political factors, while variations in informal networks are mainly due to the changing economy. Moreover, the analyses show that while the economic crisis generally lowered social capital, some mechanisms such as a sense of togetherness and left-wing political activism, enhanced social capital.

Altered Connectivity in Neural Networks Underlying Social Cognition in Individuals at Risk For Psychosis

Individuals with schizophrenia exhibit deficits in social cognition that play a large role in functional impairments and are associated with altered activity in underlying functional networks. Targeted computerized cognitive training on abilities that support social cognition, such as emotion recognition, have been shown to improve behavioral performance. However, it is unclear how this training impacts the underlying neural networks. This study assesses changes in social cognitive functional networks following targeted cognitive training in individuals with schizophrenia.