Social network density predicts partisan animosity

Not getting high with a little help from your friends: Social versus drug network correlates of marijuana use among YMSM

Most research evaluating relationships between social network attributes and loneliness have focused on older adult and adolescent networks. The present study examines the relationships between social network size (number of relationships), social network density (whether named relationships are connected to one another) and maternal loneliness during pregnancy. Eligible women were enrolled at the time of their dating ultrasound (between 8 and 12weeks of gestation). Interested women provided written consent and completed demographic, social network and loneliness measures. Participants completed the same surveys in their third trimester. Mixed-regression models, adjusted for age, race, ethnicity, and insurance type, were used to assess the relationship between social network size, network density, and loneliness. A total of 94 pregnant women (mean age = 23.77, 70.2% Black, 87.2% public insurance) completed baseline study measures, and 60 participants completed both assessment time points. Completers and non-completers did not differ on key characteristics. Social network density, but not social network size, predicted maternal loneliness ([Formula: see text]= -1.27, 95% CI -2.53, -0.01, p = 0.0489) in the first and third trimester. These findings indicate that pregnant women's social network density may be more intimately related to feelings of loneliness than the objective number of relationships. This knowledge can begin to inform the design of supportive approaches to improve women's health.

Using data from 13,789 Facebook users across U.S. states, this study examined the main effects of societal-level cultural tightness-looseness and its interaction effects with individuals' social network density on impression management (IM) in terms of online emotional expression. Results showed that individuals from culturally tight (vs. loose) states were more likely to express positive emotions and less likely to express negative emotions. Meanwhile, for positive emotional expression, there was a tightness-looseness by social network density interaction effect. In culturally tight states, individuals with dense (vs. sparse) networks were more likely to express positive emotions, while in culturally loose states this pattern was reversed. For negative emotional expression, however, no such interaction was observed. Our findings highlight the influence of cultural norms and social network structure on emotional expressions as IM strategies.

The Abkhaz civil wars and continuing territorial conflicts in Georgia have resulted in the long-term displacement of more than 200,000 people since the early 1990s. Although the international and local discourse is about integrating internally displaced persons (IDPs), little research has documented the meaning of isolation or integration for the daily lives of the IDPs or the local population. We engage the discourse about integration and isolation by analyzing the composition, size, and density of social networks in the “post”-conflict environment and the socio-spatial characteristics of social interactions and social networks. We combine a formal social network analysis with a daily path analysis to explore how socio-spatial patterns are formative of social networks and explore how various demographic factors, including gender, dwelling status, and employment status, may be related to the nature of social interactions and social networks. Our results are initially puzzling and suggest the need to rethink the meaning of isolation and integration within postconflict situations. We had expected to find greater diversity of social interactions in both populations, especially IDPs in private accommodations, because they are generally thought to have more diverse social interactions. The social network and daily path analyses, however, suggest evidence of social isolation within social networks among the entire population, not only among IDPs. We find a high degree of social isolation in two ways: (1) the persistent dominance of family and kin in all social networks and (2) highly dense (or closed) social networks in the entire population across gender, dwelling, and migrant status. The only demographic factor that appears to distinguish patterns is whether an individual engages in income-generating activity. Finally, using narrative interviews, we also explore the meaning of integration and isolation during displacement in the Georgian context.

Emotional disclosure on social networking sites: The role of network structure and psychological needs

The role of social support networks in medication adherence among HIV-infected substance users remains understudied. In this secondary data analysis, the authors sought to determine the relationship between social support networks and antiretroviral adherence among HIV-infected substance abusers receiving methadone. They analyzed data collected in a 24-week study of 76 methadone-maintained, HIV-infected substance abusers randomized to directly observed antiretroviral therapy or treatment as usual. The authors used logistic regression to examine the relationship between social support networks and self-reported antiretroviral adherence. Their results showed that study participants had an average of 1.36 social network members (SD = 1.4); 34% of participants had at least one drug user and 25% had at least one HIV-infected person in their network. The presence of network drug users and HIV-infected network members was associated with less antiretroviral medication adherence (p < .05). The authors conclude that both social network density and characteristics of network members have implications for medication adherence.

Applying three mathematical modeling techniques, this study proposes and tests the fit of an academic performance model, and then estimates the relative importance of four performance predictors: academic ability, performance goal orientation, educational technology use, and social network density. Drawing on social network theory, findings from this study show that social network density is a statistically important and unique predictor of academic performance, suggesting that “who you know” matters in large classroom settings. However, this study also indicates that academic ability is the most dominant factor in the explanation of academic performance. Practical and theoretical implications for enhancing academic performance through social networks are discussed.

Journal Article Population Size, Network Density, and the Emergence of Inherited Inequality Get access Reuben J. Thomas, Reuben J. Thomas The City College of New York Corresponding author: Reuben J. Thomas, CCNY Department of Sociology, 160 Convent Ave., New York, NY 10031, USA; email: rthomas@ccny.cuny.edu. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Noah P. Mark Noah P. Mark University of North Carolina–Charlotte Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Social Forces, Volume 92, Issue 2, December 2013, Pages 521–544, https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/sot080 Published: 16 July 2013

This study examined the role of social support networks in student persistence among residential and commuter students at an urban technical arts college for a 12-week duration. Fifteen commuter students and 25 residential students completed the study. The research methodology was social network analysis. Findings indicate that commuter students are less likely to persist in their college studies, students residing in student housing facilities experience significant and abrupt changes in social network density. However, residential students who reported making greater numbers of new friends with connections to the school also reported attaining personal and academic goals at a rate significantly greater than other subjects. The article concludes with a discussion about the role and importance of a socially connected academic community to learning and persistence.

The marginalised rural communities are characterised by societal challenges, such as isolation, lack of job opportunities, land abandonment, low quality of life and generally low education. Social Innovation (SI) initiatives may represent an opportunity to strengthen relationships among the members of rural community, by means of the alteration of the existing social networks. In this way, more exchange of information is expected, paving the way for the creation of professional collaborations among firms and other actors. This paper aims at proposing a short-term evaluation framework of effectiveness of a SI initiative in terms of reconfiguration of the social network structure. The described empirical case study is VàZapp’, a rural hub located in Southern Italy, which provides innovative solutions to activate social relations amongst farmers, altering hence their network. A well-referenced SI theoretical model, developed within the H2020 project SIMRA (Social Innovation in Marginalised Rural Areas), and the methodology of Social Network Analysis (SNA) were used to verify and measure quantitative and qualitative indicators affected by network intervention activated by VàZapp’ initiative. Results show that this SI initiative worked effectively, leading to a +308% in the number of relations and +250% in social network density. In addition, an evident improvement in the quality of the social relations was found, especially in cases where there are direct engagements within VàZapp’. Outcomes suggest that supporting and promoting SI initiatives could become a central discussion point for the rethinking of rural development policies focused on regeneration of social relations’ structure.

Although it has been shown that singing together encourages faster social bonding to a group compared with other activities, it is unknown whether this group-level “collective” bonding is associated with differences in the ties formed between individual singers and individuals engaging in other activities (“relational” bonding). Here we present self-report questionnaire data collected at three time points over the course of seven months from weekly singing and non-singing (creative writing and crafts) adult education classes. We compare the proportion of classmates with whom participants were connected and the social network structure between the singing and non-singing classes. Both singers and creative writers show a steeper increase over time in relational bonding measured by social network density and the proportion of their classmates that they could name, felt connected with, and talked to during class compared to crafters, but only the singers show rapid collective bonding to the class-group as a whole. Together, these findings indicate that the process of creating a unitary social group does not necessarily rely on the creation of personal relationships between its individual members. We discuss these findings in the light of social cohesion theory and social identity theory.

Venezuela’s macrostructure of rent-cum-marginality did not increase the susceptibility to violence in the barrios of Caracas during the twenty-first century. However, during this time violence in the barrios of Caracas was significantly high, and thus this undesirable social outcome behaved pro-cyclically (see Chap. 1). This chapter begins the analyses of social capital’s moderating effect between the politico-economic macrostructure and urban violence to explain this pro-cyclical behavior of urban violence rates in relation to the macroeconomic indicators. To this end, this chapter focuses on analyzing social network density in the three studied barrios of Caracas: Catia/23 de Enero (henceforth, Catia) located in the east, Petare in the west, and Santa Cruz del Este and Minas de Baruta (henceforth, Baruta) in the center-south of Caracas. After a qualitative comparative analysis of barrio inhabitants’ relational data in the barrios mentioned above, this chapter explains that in these barrios social network density was high in all of them. High social network density means that overall barrio inhabitants possessed multiple social connections beyond nuclear family and close friends. This finding points to a particular composition of social capital, as this factor is a necessary one for such substructural variable to be present.

Triadic configurations in limited choice sociometric networks: Empirical and theoretical results

BackgroundSouth Asian adults have worse cardiovascular health (CVH) and more coronary artery calcium compared with other race/ethnicities. The impact of the social environment has not been examined as a potential driver of CVH or coronary artery calcium in this population. We evaluated associations of social network characteristics with CVH and coronary artery calcium in South Asian American adults to inform strategies for CVH promotion in this at‐risk population.Methods and ResultsUsing data from the MASALA (Mediators of Atherosclerosis in South Asians Living in America) cohort study, multinomial and multivariable logistic regression were used to evaluate associations of participant social network size and density, proportion of network who are kin or South Asian ethnicity and reported health of participant's identified social network members (“alters”), with participant CVH and presence of coronary artery calcium. The 699 MASALA participants included were mean age 59.2 (SD, 9.2) years and 42.9% women. After adjustment, a 1‐person larger social network size was associated with 13% higher odds of ideal CVH (odds ratio [OR], 1.13; 95% CI, 1.01–1.27). Reporting an alter with high blood pressure was associated with lower odds of ideal CVH (OR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.29–0.88), and reporting an alter with high cholesterol was associated with lower odds of ideal CVH (OR, 0.54; 95% CI, 0.30–0.94).ConclusionsSocial network characteristics are associated with CVH in South Asian American adults. Engaging social networks may help promote CVH in this population.

Social positions and social relationships are important in structuring self-concept. The self is often viewed as composed of identities related to the social positions an individual occupies. These identities are generally conceptualized as being organized hierarchically based on the individual's relative commitment to each. I contribute to this work by developing an Identity Management Model in which I propose three strategies (compartmentalization, amalgamation, and reprioritization) individuals use to manage completion among identities. In this model, I identify characteristics of (a) the identities, (b) the social environment and (c) the individual's social network that are likely to influence which strategy is used in a particular situation. I then formulate hypotheses regarding the effect of specific characteristics. For example, I hypothesize that (1) the greater the density of an individual's social network the less likely he or she is to compartmentalize master identities; (2) the amalgamation of identities is more likely for those identities that are broad in scope and potentially relevant in a wide range of social settings; and (3) the amalgamation of competing identities is more likely when the individual has access to reference groups or role models who have amalgamated similar identities. I tested some of the propositions using data collected from 269 women sociologists using a mailed questionnaire. I found support for the proposition that individuals have multiple identities to which they are highly committed. I also found that the number and value of relationships linked to an amalgamated identity could be used to predict involvement in behaviors related to the amalgamated identities. However, the relationship between commitment and behavior was not equally strong for all types of identities. Commitment appears to be strongly related to behaviors associated with identities that are both voluntary in nature and flexibly defined. Of the identities I examined, (academic, woman, mother, and feminist), commitment and behavior were most strongly related for the identity of feminist. This difference between more and less voluntary identities may provide an important key for understanding why previous tests of Identity Theory have had only weak to moderate success in predicting behavior.