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The Spread of Alcohol Consumption Behavior in a Large Social Network
Abstract
Alcohol consumption has important health-related consequences and numerous biological and social determinants.
To explore quantitatively whether alcohol consumption behavior spreads from person to person in a large social network of friends, coworkers, siblings, spouses, and neighbors, followed for 32 years.
Longitudinal network cohort study.
The Framingham Heart Study.
12 067 persons assessed at several time points between 1971 and 2003.
Self-reported alcohol consumption (number of drinks per week on average over the past year and number of days drinking within the past week) and social network ties, measured at each time point.
Clusters of drinkers and abstainers were present in the network at all time points, and the clusters extended to 3 degrees of separation. These clusters were not only due to selective formation of social ties among drinkers but also seem to reflect interpersonal influence. Changes in the alcohol consumption behavior of a person's social network had a statistically significant effect on that person's subsequent alcohol consumption behavior. The behaviors of immediate neighbors and coworkers were not significantly associated with a person's drinking behavior, but the behavior of relatives and friends was.
A nonclinical measure of alcohol consumption was used. Also, it is unclear whether the effects on long-term health are positive or negative, because alcohol has been shown to be both harmful and protective. Finally, not all network ties were observed.
Network phenomena seem to influence alcohol consumption behavior. This has implications for clinical and public health interventions and further supports group-level interventions to reduce problematic drinking.
... It has been demonstrated that various behaviors, including alcohol use, eating habits, depression, sleep patterns, and cigarette use, can spread among individuals through social connections, akin to a contagious disease [13,14,15]. This phenomenon has led to the notion of these behaviors being 'socially contagious', making mathematical (epidemiological) modeling a suitable approach for studying the dynamics of their spread. ...
... Although alcohol consumption has been shown to behave like a 'socially contagious' behaviour [15,14], it differs from infectious diseases and other behaviours in a number of ways that affect the precise modelling approach. First, one should apply an SIS-type model rather than an SIR-type model, as it is impossible to become immune when dealing with behaviour. ...
... This social network includes family members, spouses, friends, co-workers, residential neighbours, and more. In this study we exclude co-workers and neighbours as they have been shown not to influence the alcohol consumption of their connections [15]. In addition, although the type of connection is identified, we simplify the social network by assuming that all connections are bidirectional and that a connection actually exists. ...
We use longitudinal social network data from the Framingham Heart Study to examine the extent to which alcohol consumptionis influenced by the network structure. We assess the spread of alcohol use in a three-state SIS-type model, classifyingindividuals as abstainers, moderate drinkers, and heavy drinkers. We find that the use of three-states improves on the morecanonical two-state classification, as the data show that all three states are highly stable and have different social dynamics. Weshow that when modelling the spread of alcohol use, it is important to model the topology of social interactions by incorporatingthe network structure. The population is not homogeneously mixed, and clustering is high with abstainers and heavy drinkers.We find that both abstainers and heavy drinkers have a strong influence on their social environment; for every heavy drinkerand abstainer connection, the probability of a moderate drinker adopting their drinking behaviour increases by 40% and 18%,respectively. We also find that abstinent connections have a significant positive effect on heavy drinkers quitting drinking.Using simulations, we find that while both are effective, increasing the influence of abstainers appears to be the more effectiveintervention compared to reducing the influence of heavy drinkers.
... The positive or negative health consequences of the influence of other groups that are part of the adolescent's social network, such as peers and siblings, have also been investigated. For example, peers' drug consumption has been associated with subsequent adolescent drug use (Snyder and Monroe 2013); as well as binge drinking and alcohol abstinence by those closest to adolescents (especially male siblings) are related to a higher probability of heavy drinking or abstaining from alcohol use, respectively (Rosenquist et al. 2010). Some authors have found that this association between peers, including siblings, is maintained even if the adolescents are geographically distant (Christakis and Fowler 2008;Rosenquist et al. 2010). ...
... For example, peers' drug consumption has been associated with subsequent adolescent drug use (Snyder and Monroe 2013); as well as binge drinking and alcohol abstinence by those closest to adolescents (especially male siblings) are related to a higher probability of heavy drinking or abstaining from alcohol use, respectively (Rosenquist et al. 2010). Some authors have found that this association between peers, including siblings, is maintained even if the adolescents are geographically distant (Christakis and Fowler 2008;Rosenquist et al. 2010). In addition, the influence of peers and relatives on smoking cessation and increases in smoking frequency has been observed (Christakis and Fowler 2008). ...
... Hence, when a disruption occurs in what is socially expected of the mother, it becomes a strong stimulus to change behaviors within the nuclear family. Similar findings were reported in a previous study (Rosenquist et al. 2010) on the effective role of women in transmitting normative beliefs toward drinking along social networks due to societal expectations of low alcohol consumption by women. Nevertheless, in the case of the model that evaluated predictors of adolescent alcohol consumption, we found a gradient of association in which the father figure stood out in both 'A' and 'B' classes (global and moderate exposure, respectively). ...
We aimed to analyze the association between latent classes of drug use of the ‘closest psychosocial network’ (CPN) (i.e. parents, siblings, and best friend) of adolescents, and adolescents’ lifetime drug use practices (tobacco, alcohol, and binge drinking). A prospective cohort study, nested in a randomized controlled trial, was performed among public school students in six Brazilian cities (N = 3,148; 51.4% girls; Mage=12.6 years), for 21 months. Latent class analyses and multilevel mixed-effect logistic regressions were performed. Regressions were clustered at the school and individual levels and adjusted for sex, age, socioeconomic status, and relatives with whom the adolescents lived. The three-class model was the best solution for the three drug use practices, ranging from minimum to high exposure of drug use influence. Those adolescents with high exposure were more likely to use tobacco and practice binge drinking. In the alcohol model, a gradient of association was observed as the exposure increased. CPN’s drug use may predict substance use in adolescents. It was observed that if the mother’s drug use is similar to that of the father, it may predict higher drug use in the other CPN characters. Our results support the idea that preventive actions in adolescence should be comprehensive, i.e. including components targeting the family (e.g. parenting and communication skills) and peers (e.g. refusal skills and perception of use). Mainly, integrating family-based components in the curriculum of school-based prevention programs is recommended.
... increased: life satisfaction and lower depression) (Choi et al., 2020;Fowler and Christakis, 2008;Santini et al., 2015), health behaviours (e.g. increased: physical activity and heavy drinking) (Rosenquist et al., 2010;Watt et al., 2014) and physical health (e.g. reduced risk of mortality) (Shor and Roelfs, 2015). ...
... We also observed that friendship was associated with a few adverse outcomes. For example, it was associated with a 43% increased likelihood of smoking and 48% increased likelihood of heavy drinking (this latter association did not reach conventional levels of statistical significance but does align with results from some prior research) (Rosenquist et al., 2010). Like other social factors, friendship might act as an "amplification system" for both beneficial and harmful health and well-being outcomes depending on the social context by magnifying whatever they are seeded with (e.g. ...
Aims
Three factors converge to underscore the heightened importance of evaluating the potential health/well-being effects of friendships in older adulthood. First, policymakers, scientists, and the public alike are recognizing the importance of social relationships for health/well-being and creating national policies to promote social connection. Second, many populations are rapidly aging throughout the world. Third, we currently face what some call a ‘friendship recession’. Although, growing research documents associations between friendship with better health and well-being, friendship can also have a ‘dark side’ and can potentially promote negative outcomes. To better capture friendship’s potential heterogeneous effects, we took an outcome-wide analytic approach.
Methods
We analysed data from 12,998 participants in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) – a prospective and nationally representative cohort of U.S. adults aged >50, and, evaluated if increases in friendship strength (between t 0 ; 2006/2008 and t 1 ; 2010/2012) were associated with better health/well-being across 35 outcomes (in t 2 ; 2014/2016). To assess friendship strength, we leveraged all available friendship items in HRS and created a composite ‘friendship score’ that assessed the following three domains: (1) friendship network size, (2) friendship network contact frequency and (3) friendship network quality.
Results
Stronger friendships were associated with better outcomes on some indicators of physical health (e.g. reduced risk of mortality), health behaviours (e.g. increased physical activity) and nearly all psychosocial indicators (e.g. higher positive affect and mastery, as well as lower negative affect and risk of depression). Friendship was also associated with increased likelihood of smoking and heavy drinking (although the latter association with heavy drinking did not reach conventional levels of statistical significance).
Conclusions
Our findings indicate that stronger friendships can have a dual impact on health and well-being. While stronger friendships appear to mainly promote a range of health and well-being outcomes, stronger friendships might also promote negative outcomes. Additional research is needed, and any future friendship interventions and policies that aim to enhance outcomes should focus on how to amplify positive outcomes while mitigating harmful ones.
... There is however a shortage of studies that have addressed this question empirically and it has recently been argued that improving our understanding of this is imperative for our understanding of the link between per capita consumption and rates of harm [14]. On the basis of a longitudinal study, Rosenquist et al. presented some empirical evidence of a social influence on non-drinking, at least in terms of increases in the likelihood of becoming a non-drinker in social networks including many abstainers [15]. Furthermore, a study of alcohol consumption among Swedish adolescents suggested that although the impact of increasing abstention rates on the mean consumption among adolescents was marginal, their indirect impact on the observed trends, through social interaction, might be far greater [3]. ...
... A major conclusion is thus that the non-drinking population and the drinking population should not be seen as two isolated phenomena but rather as one group with a collective behaviour that has a mutual influence on each other and change in concert. Previous studies have shown an increased likelihood of becoming a nondrinker in networks with more abstainers [15], indicating a social contagion of the behaviour of not drinking. Our results extend this previous finding and indicate an interaction also impacting the behaviour of those still drinking alcohol. ...
Introduction:
Understanding how the mean consumption per drinker and rates of non-drinking interplay to form overall per capita alcohol consumption is imperative for our understanding of population drinking. The aim of the present study is to examine the association between rates of non-drinkers and per drinker mean alcohol consumption in the Swedish adult population and for different percentiles of drinkers.
Methods:
Data came from a monthly telephone survey of drinking habits in the Swedish adult population between 2002 and 2013. Alcohol consumption and non-drinking during the last 30 days were measured by beverage-specific quantity-frequency questions. Regression models estimated the association between the rate of non-drinkers and per drinker volume on annual data. Auto-regressive integrated moving average time-series models estimated the association on monthly data.
Results:
A significant (P < 0.01) negative association (-0.849) was found between the rate of non-drinkers and per drinker mean volume on annual data. A unit increase in non-drinking was associated with a decline of 0.85 cl of pure alcohol among drinkers. This finding was mirrored across all percentiles of consumption. The semi-log models found that a 1% unit increase in the rate of non-drinkers was followed by a 2% reduction in per drinker mean consumption. Auto-regressive integrated moving average time-series models verified these results.
Discussion and conclusions:
There is a significant association between the proportion of non-drinkers and the amount of drinking among drinkers. The theory of collectivity of drinking cultures should also include the non-drinking part of the population.
... A social network is typically defined as a set of individuals who are linked by one or more relationships (Hanneman & Riddle, 2005;Wassermand & Faust, 1994). Evidence suggests social network characteristics are associated with adoption, continuation, and cessation of health behaviors (Smith & Christakis, 2008), including health risks, such as alcohol consumption (Rosenquist, Murabito, Fowler, & Christakis, 2010). However, the mechanisms by which such association might be causal are rarely measured or discussed-an issue that this study addresses. ...
... A wide variety of measures of quantityfrequency of alcohol consumption have been used in published studies. This study used two questions taken from the NIAAA gold standard (National Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, October 15-16, 2003) and based on prior research (Rosenquist et al., 2010): "In the last 12 months, how many alcoholic beverages did you drink per week?" and "During the last 12 months, how many alcoholic drinks did you have on a typical day when you drank alcohol?" An ordinal composite scale was coded from the responses: (1) Abstainers (39.1%) were those who reported not drinking within the prior year. ...
Hofstetter, C., Clapp, J., Allem, J., Hughes, S., Li, Y., Irvin, V., Daly, A., Kang, S., & Hovell, M. (2014). Social networks and alcohol consumption among first generation Chinese and Korean immigrants in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The International Journal Of Alcohol And Drug Research, 3(4), 245-255. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.7895/ijadr.v3i4.188Aims: To test hypotheses involving mechanisms of reinforcement of alcohol behaviors operating in social networks.Design: Telephone interviews conducted by professional interviewers in Mandarin or Korean or English with first generation Chinese (from Mainland or Taiwan) and Korean immigrants residing using a dual frame stratified sampling design. Combined probability and non-probability approaches for sampling due to the widespread use of cell phones. Interviews were conducted in language of preferences with over 95% of interviews in Korean or Mandarin.Setting: Residents of three counties with the largest proportions of eligible residents (Los Angeles, Orange, and San Bernardino) were included.Participants: Adult residents (21 and over) stratified by gender who could be reached by telephone constituted the sample.Measures: Measures included frequency/amount alcohol consumption drawn from NIAAA standard, a “relax, socialize, have fun with” name generator was used to identify alters. Reinforcers within networks were measured by participant reports of amount of alter drinking, drunkenness, and encouragement to drink, acculturation, and demographic variables were measured by self report.Findings: Using a random effects approach and controlling for other variables, including drinking in the network, acculturation, Korean/Chinese origin, and demographics, source of immigration, network context, as was and sampling frame, encouragement to drink in the network was related to drinking (P<.05).Conclusions: Studies of social networks in relation to health behaviors should include measures of actions within networks, especially reinforcers of behaviors, in order to understand the functioning and consequences of networks.
... According to Rosenquist et al. (2010), social connections can potentially facilitate an individual's ability to locate a healthcare provider or attend medical visits. Studies have also provided evidence on the substantial influence of peer support on the uptake of cervical cancer testing (Logan & Mcllfatrick, 2011). ...
Worldwide, cervical cancer is still a major health concern. The problem is worse in developing nations because there is a lack of access to trustworthy cancer information, which discourages people from getting screened. The usefulness of interpersonal communication channels in spreading awareness about cervical cancer screening was investigated in this inquiry. The study was carried out at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya, within the Maternal Child Health and Family Planning (MCH/FP) facility. The Diffusion of Innovations Theory provided direction for the research. The study was conducted at Maternal Child Health and Family Planning (MCH/FP) clinic at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya. The study was guided by the Diffusion of Innovations Theory. This study employed a descriptive cross-sectional design and a mixed methods approach to investigate cervical cancer information sources. Targeting women aged 18-65 receiving family planning services at MTRH, the sample of 308 was derived from the monthly population of 1,000. Six key informants were purposively chosen for qualitative data, and 20 participants for focus groups using systematic random sampling. Quantitative data was collected using semi-structured questionnaires while qualitative data was collected using two focused group discussions and six key informant interviews. Statistical Package for Social Sciences, version 29, was used to analyse the quantitative data, and NVivo, version 12 software was used to analyse the qualitative data using thematic content analysis. Regression modelling and the estimation of Pearson's correlation coefficient were used to perform inferential statistics. The tabulated findings suggest that there was strong positive link between information sources adopted and cervical cancer testing uptake (r=0.876, p = <.004). This observation indicates that the choice of interpersonal communication medium used played a crucial role in influencing the acceptance and adoption of cervical cancer screening. The major channels of interpersonal communication utilized were friends, health care workers and the media. Out of these, the most effective channels were health care workers. As such, healthcare workers, especially doctors and nurses, can increase women's screening adherence to lessen the societal burden of cervical cancer. It is thus recommended that combining mass media and interpersonal communication channels will probably increase women's understanding of cervical cancer thus enabling them to make informed decisions about their health. It is also important to sensitize families, communities and health care workers on their role in promoting screening uptake. Specific training programmes should be put in place to sensitize the public and health care professionals and increase their capacity to promote uptake of cervical cancer screening among women of vulnerable ages.
... Be it positive or negative, effect of a social peers network has proven to have an effect in many such aspects, such as smoking [4], alcohol consumption [5] and ironically, happiness [6]. In this project we seek to perform a similar study on effect of a social group activity or peer intervention and to see if positive healthy behaviour is contagious among a group of people. ...
In a 2007 study funded by the National Institute onAging (NIA) and led by Dr Christakis, the researchers examined the relationship between social ties and obesity. The study revealed the significant influence of close friends and family members on an individual’s risk of obesity, even across long distances. In contrast to the above study, in 2013, Royal Health Awareness Society (RHAS), in collaboration with Jordanian Ministry of Health (MoH) established Microclinic Behavioral Health Program (referred to as MCP), which aimed to improve on obesity and diabetes risk factors through a comprehensive behavioral intervention that emphasized on social-network interactions and support. The study evaluates the effectiveness of the program in enhancing body weight and blood sugar control.
The goal of this dissertation is to perform statistical analysis on the data collected from the above program and to conclude that in conjunction with the 2007 study, can the opposite be true as well i.e., social ties and interaction among peers, friends and family, who are part of same regime together, can lead to weight loss with time for all the participants. It was a three armed randomized controlled trail including a control group. At the end of the study we had longitudinal weight data, i.e., each individual’s weight was measured on weekly sessions and recorded at the clinic.
Linear Mixed-Effects Model was used to understand the effect of social interaction with the weight loss for different Groups and the result indicates that there isn’t much difference between the effect of social interaction with change or loss in weight. The result is in contradiction to the initial hypothesis that similar to the case of obesity, there would be some influence on weight loss as well.
... The essential issue in these circumstances is determining how to identify the most relevant prominent vertices. Different applications based on evaluating the results of the dissemination process are obtained in this scope, including rumour diffusion [13], rumour control [14,15], network monitoring [16], revenue maximization [17], public health [18], and social recommendation [19]. The IMP is trying to pick "k-important nodes" from a social media graph, and a common aim is to cover as many network vertices as possible with an influence cascade, for example, to raise awareness or sales expectations [20]. ...
The Influence Maximization problem (IMP) is a fundamental algorithmic challenge that involves selecting a set of k users, known as the seed set, from a social media network to maximize the expected number of influenced users or influence spread. In recent years, Influence maximization has been extensively studied due to its numerous applications in marketing and other domains. However, many existing algorithms neglect the impact of communities on influence maximization, and some other methods suffer from scalability issues and time-consuming computations. In this paper, we propose a fast, and scalable algorithm called Community based Influential maximization (CB-IM) to address these limitations. This method leverages the community structure of the network to select k users, thus maximizing the influence spread. The CB-IM algorithm comprises two main components for influence maximization: (1) seed selection and (2) local community spreading. In the seed selection phase, we extract seed nodes from communities identified through a community detection algorithm. To effectively reduce computational complexity and distribute seed nodes across communities, we carefully select meaningful communities. The second phase involves the propagation of influence within independent communities. In this step, the final seed nodes are strategically distributed to facilitate local spreading through simple paths within the communities. To evaluate the performance of proposed method, we conducted a series of experiments using real networks. The proposed CB-IM algorithm demonstrated superior performance over other algorithms in terms of influence spread and running time, highlighting its effectiveness.
... Alternatively, people who excessively drink alcohol may have problems maintaining relationships with other people. However, in line with the ideas of Canham et al., [69] and Rosenquist et al., [70] it is important to note the residual effects of shared ideologies among social groups on drinking behaviors of the respondents as some individuals might not drink alcohol because their friends were not, while others would drink due to interpersonal influence or pressure. ...
Background
Generally, pandemics such as COVID-19 take an enormous toll on people’s lives. As the pandemic now turns to an endemic state, growing attention has been paid to the multiple adverse mental health and behavioral issues, such as suicidal ideation and substance use. However, the interplay of suicidality and substance misuse during the pandemic has been limited. We aimed to investigate the prevalence of co-occurrence of suicide ideation, alcohol and cannabis misuse, and the factors that are associated with these co-occurrences in the province of Saskatchewan during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods
We performed a multivariable trivariate probit regression on a sample of 666 Saskatchewan adolescents and adults (16 years or older), drawn from the cycle 10 data collection (March 2022) of the Mental Health Commission of Canada, and Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (MHCC-CCSA) dataset.
Results
The prevalence of suicidal ideation was higher among respondents who reported both problematic cannabis and alcohol use (25.8%) than single users of alcohol (23.2%) and cannabis (18.7%). Younger respondents (16–34 years) and those who reported recent changes in other substance use were independent factors that were associated with the common experience of suicide ideation, problematic cannabis, and alcohol use. Having a diagnosis of mental health disorders either before or during the pandemic, and the perceived inability to bounce back after the pandemic (low resilience) are strong correlates of suicidal ideation. Those who lived alone, between 35 and 55 years of age were more likely to report problematic alcohol use. Those who reported changes in alternative activities, who reported pandemic stress, and declared a LGBTQIA2S + identity had higher probability of problematic cannabis use.
Conclusions
As the pandemic persists, improving access to suicide and substance use interventions for the vulnerable groups identified in this study may be impactful.
... Peer drinking had been reported to influence adolescents' alcohol expectations. Therefore, making friends with non-drinking peers should be encouraged to delay or reduce the frequency of alcohol use among adolescents [73]. ...
Background
Unhealthy lifestyles are risk factors for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and tend to be clustered, with a trajectory that extends from adolescence to adulthood. This study investigated the association of diets, tobacco, alcohol, physical activity (PA), screen time (ST) and sleep duration (SD) in a total of six lifestyles, separately and as cumulative lifestyle scores, with sociodemographic characteristics among school-aged adolescents in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou.
Methods
In the aggregate, 3,637 adolescents aged 11–23 years were included in the study. The questionnaire collected data on socio-demographic characteristics and lifestyles. Healthy and unhealthy lifestyles were identified and scored, depending on the individual score (0 and 1 for healthy and unhealthy lifestyles respectively), with a total score between 0 and 6. Based on the sum of the dichotomous scores, the number of unhealthy lifestyles was calculated and divided into three clusters (0–1, 2–3, 4–6). Chi-square test was used to analyze the group difference of lifestyles and demographic characteristics, and multivariate logistic regression was used to explore the associations between demographic characteristics and the clustering status of unhealthy lifestyles.
Results
Among all participants, the prevalence of unhealthy lifestyles was: 86.4% for diet, 14.5% for alcohol, 6.0% for tobacco, 72.2% for PA, 42.3% for ST and 63.9% for SD. Students who were in university, female, lived in country (OR = 1.725, 95% CI: 1.241–2.398), had low number of close friends (1–2: OR = 2.110, 95% CI: 1.428–3.117; 3–5: OR = 1.601, 95% CI: 1.168–2.195), and had moderate family income (OR = 1.771, 95% CI: 1.208–2.596) were more likely to develop unhealthy lifestyles. In total, unhealthy lifestyles remain highly prevalent among Chinese adolescents.
Conclusion
In the future, the establishment of an effective public health policy may improve the lifestyle profile of adolescents. Based on the lifestyle characteristics of different populations reported in our findings, lifestyle optimization can be more efficiently integrated into the daily lives of adolescents. Moreover, it is essential to conduct well-designed prospective studies on adolescents.
... For example, the evolution of RNA viruses (Grenfell et al. 2004) where evolutionary and ecological timescales overlap. In this model, individuals reproduce asexually such that migration was coupled with birth, this is akin to dispersal in plants (Fournier & Méléard 2004) or the spread of infection (Rosenquist 2010). Uncoupled migration, where individuals can freely move between sites, enables us to consider complex behaviours such as animal migration (Bauer & Klaassen 2013). ...
We consider the effect of network structure on the evolution of a population. Models of this kind typically consider a population of fixed size and distribution. Here we consider eco-evolutionary dynamics where population size and distribution can change through birth, death and migration, all of which are separate processes. This allows complex interaction and migration behaviours that are dependent on competition. For migration, we assume that the response of individuals to competition is governed by tolerance to their group members, such that less tolerant individuals are more likely to move away due to competition. We looked at the success of a mutant in the rare mutation limit for the complete, cycle and star networks. Unlike models with fixed population size and distribution, the distribution of the individuals per site is explicitly modelled by considering the dynamics of the population. This in turn determines the mutant appearance distribution for each network. Where a mutant appears impacts its success as it determines the competition it faces. For low and high migration rates the complete and cycle networks have similar mutant appearance distributions resulting in similar success levels for an invading mutant. A higher migration rate in the star network is detrimental for mutant success because migration results in a crowded central site where a mutant is more likely to appear.
... For example, according to one social network study (Rosenquist et al., 2010), because both fathers and sons are more likely to drink alcohol and smoke than mothers and daughters, any effect fathers have on children may likely be on sons' alcohol and substance use and mothers may have a stronger effect on daughters' alcohol and substance use (c.f. Reczeka et al., 2017). ...
Background:
Parents impact their offspring's brain development, neurocognitive function, risk, and resilience for alcohol use disorder (AUD) via both genetic and socio-environmental factors. Individuals with AUD and their unaffected children manifest low parietal P3 amplitude and low frontal theta (FT) power, reflecting heritable neurocognitive deficits associated with AUD. Likewise, children who experience poor parenting tend to have atypical brain development and greater rates of alcohol problems. Conversely, positive parenting can be protective and critical for normative development of self-regulation, neurocognitive functioning and the neurobiological systems subserving them. Yet, the role of positive parenting in resiliency toward AUD is understudied and its association with neurocognitive functioning and behavioral vulnerability to AUD among high-risk offspring is less known. Using data from the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism prospective cohort (N = 1256, mean age [SD] = 19.25 [1.88]), we investigated the associations of closeness with mother and father during adolescence with offspring P3 amplitude, FT power, and binge drinking among high-risk offspring.
Methods:
Self-reported closeness with mother and father between ages 12 and 17 and binge drinking were assessed using the Semi-Structured Assessment for the Genetics of Alcoholism. P3 amplitude and FT power were assessed in response to target stimuli using a Visual Oddball Task.
Results:
Multivariate multiple regression analyses showed that closeness with father was associated with larger P3 amplitude (p = 0.002) and higher FT power (p = 0.01). Closeness with mother was associated with less binge drinking (p = 0.003). Among male offspring, closeness with father was associated with larger P3 amplitude, but among female offspring, closeness with mother was associated with less binge drinking. These associations remained statistically significant with father's and mothers' AUD symptoms, socioeconomic status, and offspring impulsivity in the model.
Conclusions:
Among high-risk offspring, closeness with parents during adolescence may promote resilience for developing AUD and related neurocognitive deficits albeit with important sex differences.
... Therefore, networks approach to investigating behaviour as dynamical process allows us to explore how changes in behaviour occurs to social influence through formation of links and interactions ( (Christakis and Fowler, 2007), spread of alcohol consumption (Rosenquist, Murabito, Fowler and Christakis, 2010) to name a few using longitudinal network observation in health psychology and sociology provides us with empirical account into how social influences through links formation and interactions have impact of individual behaviour. However, the modelling of social links and interactions at multi-level using longitudinal network analysis requires us to explore the newly emerging area referred as computational social science for studying human behaviour. ...
Individual and community psychology plays an important role in disaster management as human behavior exhibit diverse risk perceptions, recognition of the threats that exists, positive and negative emotions, panic, anger, rumor, stress and learned helplessness. These psychological factors are important as lack of attention to these can lead to detrimental outcome of disaster management effort. Disaster psychology has been seen as an emerging area of research and practice which deals with understanding of the psychological impact of individuals and community aftermath of the disasters. The aim of this paper is to put forward the conceptualization and development of dynamic networked psychology as a theoretical framework and its implications in exploring emotional contagion during disasters. We advocate theories of structural network dynamics can be used to construct DNP for exploring individuals as well as community coping mechanisms for improving preparedness, response and recovery of disasters. The advent of computational social science promotes the empirical modelling and analysis of massive volume of user data by inferring meaningful patterns for finding answers to important social and behavioral science research questions dealing with individual and community coping ability. In presenting a theoretical framework, we suggest that the underlying assumptions and integration of theories of social influence can be used to explore networks of emotional contagion for disasters.
... Interactions with our peers impact decisions and behaviours in our daily lives (Moreno (1934); Maxwell (2002); Ritzer et al. (2007)) -often shaping our health practices, voting choices and addiction patterns Fowler (2007, 2008); Rosenquist et al. (2010); Rogers (2010)). These behaviours that spread through social contact, collectively lead to global outcomes (or mass behaviours) in populations (Solovei and van den Putte (2020); Centola (2010)). ...
Network-based interventions have shown immense potential in prompting behaviour changes in populations. Their implementation in the real world however, is often difficult and prone to failure as they are typically delivered on limited budgets and in many instances can be met with resistance in populations. Therefore, utilising available and limited resources optimally through careful and efficient planning is key for the successful implementation of any intervention. An important development in this aspect, is the influence maximisation framework —which lies at the interface of network science and computer science —and is commonly used to study network-based interventions in a theoretical setup with the aim of determining best practices that can optimise intervention outcomes in the real world. In this thesis, we explore the influence maximisation problem in a competitive setting (inspired by real-world conditions) where two contenders compete to maximise the spread of their intervention (or influence) in a social network. In its traditional form, the influence maximisation process identifies the k most influential nodes in a network —where k is given by a fixed budget. In this thesis, we propose the influence maximisation model with continuous distribution of influence where individuals are targeted heterogeneously based on their role in the influence spread process. This approach allows policymakers to obtain a detailed plan of the optimal distribution of budgets which is otherwise abstracted in traditional methods. In the rest of the thesis we use this approach to study multiple real-world settings. We first propose the competitive influence maximisation model with continuous allocation of resources. We then determine optimal intervention strategies against known competitor allocations in a network and show that continuous distribution of resources consistently outperform traditional approaches where influence is concentrated on a few nodes in the network (i.e. k optimal nodes). We further extend the model to a game-theoretic framework which helps us examine settings with no prior information about competitor strategies. We find that the equilibrium solution in this setting is to uniformly target the network —implying that all nodes, irrespective of their topological positions, contribute equally to the influence maximisation process. We extend this model further in two directions. First, we introduce the notion of adoption barriers to the competitive influence maximisation model, where an additional cost is paid every time an individual is approached for intervention. We find that this cost-of-access parameter ties our model to traditional methods, where only k individuals are discretely targeted. We further generalise the model to study other real-world settings where the strength of influence changes nonlinearly with allocations. Here we identify two distinct regimes —one where optimal strategies offer significant gains, and the other where they do not yield any gains. The two regimes also vary in their sensitivity to budget availability, and we find that in some cases, even a tenfold increase in the budget only marginally improves the outcome of the intervention. Second, we extend the continuous allocation model to analyse network-based interventions in the presence of negative ties. Individuals sharing a negative tie typically influence each other to adopt opposing views, and hence they can be detrimental to the influence spread process if not considered in the dynamics. We show that in general it is important to consider negative ties when planning an intervention, and at the same time we identify settings where the knowledge of negative ties yields no gains, or leads to less favourable outcomes.
... For example, drinking for social enhancement features prominently in measures of expectancies and motives 159,163,164 and estimates of drinking in an individual's proximal social network are highly correlated with personal alcohol use 188 . Studies using social network analysis, which quantitatively characterizes the structure of relationships among people [189][190][191] , have revealed that drinkers cluster together in networks and social network characteristics predict changes in drinking over time [192][193][194] , with parallel findings for other addictive disorders [195][196][197][198] . Clinically, changes in an individual's social circle to include fewer people who drink alcohol predict recovery 199,200 , and salutary changes in social networks is a putative mechanism by which Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) confers benefits 201 . ...
Alcohol is one of the most widely consumed psychoactive drugs globally. Hazardous drinking, defined by quantity and frequency of consumption, is associated with acute and chronic morbidity. Alcohol use disorders (AUDs) are psychiatric syndromes characterized by impaired control over drinking and other symptoms. Contemporary aetiological perspectives on AUDs apply a biopsychosocial framework that emphasizes the interplay of genetics, neurobiology, psychology, and an individual's social and societal context. There is strong evidence that AUDs are genetically influenced, but with a complex polygenic architecture. Likewise, there is robust evidence for environmental influences, such as adverse childhood exposures and maladaptive developmental trajectories. Well-established biological and psychological determinants of AUDs include neuroadaptive changes following persistent use, differences in brain structure and function, and motivational determinants including overvaluation of alcohol reinforcement, acute effects of environmental triggers and stress, elevations in multiple facets of impulsivity, and lack of alternative reinforcers. Social factors include bidirectional roles of social networks and sociocultural influences, such as public health control strategies and social determinants of health. An array of evidence-based approaches for reducing alcohol harms are available, including screening, pharmacotherapies, psychological interventions and policy strategies, but are substantially underused. Priorities for the field include translating advances in basic biobehavioural research into novel clinical applications and, in turn, promoting widespread implementation of evidence-based clinical approaches in practice and health-care systems.
... If a person's friend, family, or partner is obese, the chances of that person becoming obese increase as well (Christakis & Fowler, 2007). Smoking (Christakis & Fowler, 2013) and drinking (Christakis & Fowler, 2013) showed similar tendencies (Rosenquist, Murabito, Fowler, & Christakis, 2010). ...
Differentiation and diversity are highly valued in a plural society. Despite this, a plural society need a binder to reinforce interpersonal relationships, often known as social cohesiveness. Social cohesion is a social process aimed at eliminating disparities, socioeconomic inequalities, and societal rifts in order to consolidate plurality of citizenships. To survive, social cohesion requires reinforcing energy, one of which comes from social capital. This paper will explain how social capital is a source of energy that helps to strengthen social cohesion in multiple societies.
... In particular, polysubstance use and alcohol misuse may proxy underlying addiction risk, and teens who consume substances in either manner are more prone to heavily use substances in general. Moreover, the complementarity between youth ENDS use and heavier alcohol use may reflect the fact that both ENDS consumption and teen binge drinking have strong social elements (Rosenquist et al. 2010;Groom et al. 2021) and are often consumed together; a substantial fraction of teen ENDS users (40% in the state YRBS) also binge drink. ...
... It could be argued that some apparent instances of contagion could be due to social conformity or peer pressure [78]. However, this argument stands only when the behavior in question is categorically negative, such as substance abuse [15,61], or positive, such as generosity [7,58,75]. In contrast, the socially-induced adoption of communication styles we study in this work is neither positive nor negative and has no ostensible benefits for either the influencer or the follower. ...
Pictorial emojis and stickers are commonly used in online social networking to facilitate and aid communications. We delve into the use of Bitmoji stickers, a highly expressive form of pictorial communication using avatars resembling actual users. We collect a large-scale dataset of the metadata of 3 billion Bitmoji stickers shared among 300 million Snapchat users. We find that individual Bitmoji sticker usage patterns can be characterized jointly on dimensions of reciprocity and selectivity: Users are either both reciprocal and selective about whom they use Bitmoji stickers with or neither reciprocal nor selective. We additionally provide evidence of network homophily in that friends use Bitmoji stickers at similar rates. Finally, using a quasi-experimental approach, we show that receiving Bitmoji stickers from a friend encourages future Bitmoji sticker usage and overall Snapchat engagement. We discuss broader implications of our work towards a better understanding of pictorial communication behaviors in social networks.
... Earlier work indicates that urban AI/AN adolescents are often socially isolated within school networks or are tied to less cohesive school-based social groups, which can increase risk for AOD use [33,34] To date, however, social network research on AI/AN youth AOD use is sparse, despite strong findings linking social networks and AOD use in other at-risk adolescent populations [33,35]. There are no social network studies of AOD use among urban AI/ AN emerging adults, and no intervention studies for urban AI/AN adolescents or emerging adults informed by social network analysis [36], despite the key role networks can play in triggering AOD use [37][38][39][40][41] and in discouraging AOD use and increasing resilience among urban AI/AN adolescents [35,42]. ...
Background
Coupling social network visualizations with Motivational Interviewing in substance use interventions has been shown to be acceptable and feasible in several pilot tests, and has been associated with changes in participants’ substance use and social networks. The objective of this study was to assess acceptability and feasibility of an adaptation of this behavior change approach into a culturally centered behavior change intervention for American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) emerging adults living in urban areas. AI/AN populations experience high rates of health disparities and substance use. Although 70% of AI/AN people live outside of tribal lands, there are few culturally tailored health interventions for these AI/AN populations. Social networks can both increase and discourage substance use. Leveraging healthy social networks and increasing protective factors among urban AI/AN emerging adults may help increase resilience.
Methods
We conducted thirteen focus groups with 91 male and female participants (32 urban AI/AN emerging adults ages 18–25, 26 parents, and 33 providers) and one pilot test of the three workshop sessions with 15 AI/AN emerging adults. Focus group participants provided feedback on a proposed workshop-based intervention curriculum that combined group Motivational Interviewing (MI) and social network visualizations. Pilot workshop participants viewed their own social networks during group MI sessions focused on substance use and traditional practices and discussed their reactions to viewing and discussing their networks during these sessions. We used a combination of open coding of focus group and workshop session transcripts to identify themes across the group sessions and content analysis of comments entered into an online social network interview platform to assess the extent that participants had an intuitive understanding of the information conveyed through network diagrams.
Results
Focus group and pilot test participants reacted positively to the intervention content and approach and provided constructive feedback on components that should be changed. Themes that emerged included feasibility, acceptability, relevance, understandability, and usefulness of viewing personal network visualizations and discussing social networks during group MI workshops. Workshop participants demonstrated an intuitive understanding of network concepts (network composition and structure) when viewing their diagrams for the first time.
Conclusions
Social network visualizations are a promising tool for increasing awareness of social challenges and sources of resilience for urban AI/AN emerging adults. Coupled with Motivational Interviewing in a group context, social network visualizations may enhance discussions of network influences on substance use and engagement in traditional practices.
Trial Registration : ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04617938. Registered October 26, 2020
... Recently published studies demonstrate that social connectedness can have a substantial effect on physical and mental well-being. 16,[28][29][30][31][32][33] In a 2016 systematic review, Valtorta et al found that poor social relationships were associated with a 29% increase in risk of incident coronary artery disease. 30 Another interpretation of the findings is that patients in closer-proximity quintiles visited their family physicians more often and received more preventive care, although it seems unlikely that all improvement found in this study could be explained by better care. ...
Objective:
To determine whether neighbours who share the same family physicians have better cardiovascular and health care outcomes.
Design:
Retrospective cohort study using administrative health databases.
Setting:
Ontario.
Participants:
The study population included 2,690,482 adult patients cared for by 1710 family physicians.
Interventions:
Adult residents of Ontario were linked to their family physicians and the geographic distance between patients in the same panel or list was calculated. Using distance between patients within a panel to stratify physicians into quintiles of panel proximity, physicians and patients from close-proximity practices were compared with those from more-distant-proximity practices. Age- and sex-standardized incidence rates and hazard ratios from cause-specific hazards regression models were determined.
Main outcome measures:
The occurrence of a major cardiovascular event during a 5-year follow-up period (2008 to 2012).
Results:
Patients of panels in the closest-proximity quintile lived an average of 3.9 km from the 10 closest patients in their panel compared with 12.4 km for the 10 closest patients of panels in the distant-proximity quintile. After adjusting for various patient and physician characteristics, patients in the most-distant-proximity practices had a 24% higher rate of cardiovascular events (adjusted hazard ratio=1.24 [95% CI 1.20 to 1.28], P<.001) than patients in the closest-proximity practices. Age- and sex-standardized all-cause mortality and total per patient health care costs were also lowest in the closest-proximity quintile. In sensitivity analyses restricted to large urban communities and to White long-term residents, results were similar.
Conclusion:
The better cardiovascular outcomes observed in close-proximity panels may be related to a previously unrecognized mechanism of social connectedness that extends the effectiveness of primary care practitioners.
... Binge drinking has been studied mainly in adolescents, not because it is exclusive to them, but because consumption at an early age increases the probability of developing alcohol dependence and a series of risks associated with violence and injuries [29,34]. Various research concludes that alcohol use is a problem that needs to be addressed at the group level rather than the individual level, emphasizing the importance of peer influences [7,22,30,55,61,62,65]. The peer influence is not only limited to the explicit invitation to drink (termed direct peer influence) such as overt offers of alcohol but also through the pressure exerted on cognitive structures related to alcohol consumption such as attachment to norms, beliefs, expectations and motivations (termed indirect peer influence) [7]. ...
Binge drinking is a multi-factorial problem where peer influence in the immediate environment has a key role in the appearance of the first episode and the recurrence. However, information regarding the interaction of variables that mediate the influence among people is limited. Binge drinking pattern is generally derived from interrelationships with other drinking states in a manner analogous to the susceptible-infectious relationship. Nevertheless, the classic modelling approach is not appropriate because the periodicity of consumption is associated with specific social contexts where social drinkers adopt binge drinking. We analyse the temporal evolution of binge drinkers, formulating a discrete mathematical model that incorporates the effect of the size of the influence group, the incitement-to-use and the refractoriness to recurrence as parameters. Our results allow evaluating the potential impact of interventions according to the individual and social characteristics of the susceptible population. New horizons of epidemiological research are established to prevent alcoholism.
... With data from the Alameda County Study, for example, Berkman and Syme (1979) were able to show that socially less integrated persons have a higher mortality risk. Schwarzer and Knoll (2007) show that social support can favor coping with the consequences of heart surgery, and the studies of Christakis, Fowler, and colleagues suggest that happiness, obesity, alcohol consumption, and smoking behavior are contagious in networks (Christakis & Fowler, 2007Rosenquist et al., 2010). ...
“Tell me how much your friends earn and I’ll tell you whether you smoke, what diseases you have and how old you’re going to become!” Part of this statement should be familiar to those who are interested in the connection between social inequality and health. People of comparatively lower socioeconomic status are at higher risk of health problems and are more likely to fall ill and die earlier than those who have a higher income etc. However, the sentence does not ask about your own income, but about the income of your friends. Is this information really meaningful? Does it really make a difference to your own health which friends you have, who you surround yourself with in your everyday life and what social position these people have?
... Conversely, being surrounded by abstainers decreased reported alcohol consumption by half. (Rosenquist et al., 2010). Clair, Beatty and MacLean (2005) explained that this isolation heightens the anxiety alcoholics experience making it difficult for them to forge relationships with coworkers, a key to networking within an organization. ...
The paper is focused on the development of social work on the impact of social services and
social help provided by Mother Teresa and the Congregation of the missionanries of love
that expanded all over the world. We can find roots of social work in work with the people
in needs in the very last past. Social work deals with the problem of poverty and inequality
and linked with the idea of charity work and missionary; there are near broader between
church and social work practice. The concept of charity goes back to ancient times, and the practice of providing for the poor has roots in all major world religions.
... Such underlying indirect interactions have important implications not only on the dynamics of the system but also on the evolution and the emergence of network structures. For example, Christakis and Fowler (30,31) found that for the spreading of many social behaviors, such as drug (36) and alcohol addictions (37) and obesity (30), an individual can span their influence to their friends around three degrees of separation (friend of a friend's friend). This phenomenon is also widely known as "three degrees of influence" in social science. ...
Significance
Increasing empirical evidence in diverse social and ecological systems has shown that indirect interactions play a pivotal role in shaping systems’ dynamical behavior. Our empirical study on collaboration networks of scientists further reveals that an indirect effect can dominate over direct influence in behavioral spreading. However, almost all models in existence focus on direct interactions, and the general impact of indirect interactions has not been studied. We propose a new percolation process, termed induced percolation, to characterize indirect interactions and find that indirect interactions raise a plethora of new phenomena, including the wide range of possible phase transitions. Such an indirect mechanism leads to very different spreading outcomes from that of direct influences.
... Most research that has focused on social network effects has used observational methods (e.g., Aral and Nicolaides 2017). In certain situations, behavior is not just influenced by direct contacts, but also by contacts separated by two degrees or more of separation (i.e., indirect links; Cacioppo et al. 2009;Rosenquist et al. 2010). These results suggest that behaviors can spread throughout social networks similar to contagious diseases. ...
Decisions often require a tradeoff between immediate and long-term gratification. How individuals resolve such tradeoffs reflects constructs such as temporal discounting, the degree that individuals devalue delayed rewards. Recent research has started to focus on temporal decisions made in collaborative contexts (e.g., dyads, small groups). Results suggest that directly interacting with others leads to revisions in preferences, such that decision makers become more similar to their collaborative partners over time (e.g., more patient following collaboration with a patient other). What remains to be seen is whether this social influence extends to indirect social effects, such as when an individual influences another’s preferences through a shared collaborative partner. In the current study, the focus was on decisions regarding hypothetical monetary rewards. Groups of three participated in a collaborative decision-making chain, in which network member X collaborated with member Y, who then subsequently collaborated with member Z. Though network members X and Z never directly interacted, a significant indirect link was observed between member X’s pre-collaborative decision preferences and member Z’s post-collaborative decision preferences. These results demonstrate that temporal decision preferences can be transmitted through intervening connections in a small social network (i.e., social contagion), showing that indirect social influence can be empirically observed and measured in controlled environments.
... To be specific, online social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have become popular platforms for economic, political, and educational activities, ranging from the marketing of commercial products and services to disseminating critical information to enhance situational awareness during public health and disaster emergencies. With great application potentials, the research on identifying the influential nodes in a network has gained an enormous attention in various domains including viral marketing (Li et al., 2018), public health (Rosenquist et al., 2010), social behavioral analysis , opinion formation (He et al., 2018), rumor control (Wu & Pan, 2017), revenue maximization (Teng et al., 2018) and neuroscience (Zhu, 2018). ...
The impact of online social networking on daily life is extending beyond personal boundaries, becoming a tool for financial activities and even public well-being. Interactions among users and items, as nodes of such networks, and flows of information among them play a critical role in this regard. Identifying a small subset of such nodes with maximum spreading power that facilitates this process has attracted a lot of attention. The existing solution approaches to this NP-hard combinatorial optimization problem, known as the Influence Maximization (IM) problem, mainly suffer either from poor solution quality or large computational time. This study addresses these issues by proposing a two-stage optimization framework. First, to reduce the computation complexity, a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) approach is employed to prune insignificant nodes from the candidate nodes. Second, to optimize the solutions, a modified differential evolution (DE) algorithm equipped with multiple search operators is proposed. The proposed algorithm uses the Expected Diffusion Value (EDV) in place of traditional time-consuming simulations to evaluate the fitness of a candidate solution. We proved that EDV is a monotone and submodular function, and showed that it can effectively and efficiently be integrated into a greedy-based algorithmic framework. We also provided the theoretical analysis and evaluated the performance of this proposed algorithm experimentally using two synthetic and eight diverse real-life networks. The experimental results show that our proposed algorithm achieves a better trade-off between solution quality and running time compared to the existing baseline algorithms.
... La socialisation conjugale est en ainsi nuancée par le réseau personnel, en particulier commensal. Quelques travaux ont constaté que le régime d'ego est partiellement prédictible à partir de celui de ses proches (partenaire, famille, ami·es) (Young et al., Rosenquist et al., 2010 ;Pachucki et al., 2011 ;Pachucki, 2014) ...
S’inspirant de travaux anglo-saxons, cette thèse décrit le processus d’« intégration conjugale alimentaire », c’est-à-dire de mise en commun de la gestion domestique et des représentations associées à l’alimentation chez les jeunes couples de jeunes adultes s’installant en cohabitation conjugale, et l’évolution des rapports conjugaux de genre au cours de cette étape. Elle questionne ce qu’est la construction conjugale, le rôle qu’y joue l’alimentation, ses spécificités chez les jeunes adultes et sa participation à la production du genre.L’enquête a consisté en entretiens parfois réitérés auprès des deux partenaires de 26 couples hétérosexuels de jeunes adultes (18-30 ans), sans enfant et récemment installé·es en cohabitation. Elle était épaulée par des éléments de saisie concrète des pratiques (fiches biographiques, tickets de caisse et listes de courses récentes, observations).L’analyse montre d’abord le caractère précoce, important et spécifique de l’alimentation dans l’ « intégration conjugale », du fait de la relative valorisation sociale de certaines activités alimentaires. L’ « intégration domestique alimentaire », qui désigne plus précisément la mise en commun routinisée des tâches domestiques de gestion alimentaire, est plus tardivement enclenchée, notamment par la cohabitation, au nom de différentes normes alimentaires de la conjugalité cohabitante. Ceci invite à tenir compte de l’effet de la valorisation sociale de l’activité considérée sur le rythme et la forme de son intégration conjugale, et à distinguer l’intégration des pratiques de celle des routines domestiques et des représentations.Car l’analyse montre ensuite que la vie commune induit une socialisation conjugale alimentaire produisant un « nomos conjugal alimentaire », ou monde de représentations commun aux partenaires qui, chez les jeunes adultes, s’articule au processus de questionnement des pratiques alimentaires « adultes ».Elle constate alors que la norme conjugale de délégation des activités domestiques conduit à la spécialisation progressive des partenaires. Sous l’impulsion égalitariste, cette spécialisation repose sur le « laisser-faire », donc sur les préférences, compétences et exigences, autrement dit sur la réactivation des savoir-faire et attentes incorporées au cours de socialisations antérieures, et de facto souvent genrées.Après cette description du processus d’intégration conjugale alimentaire, l’analyse détaille l’« ordre alimentaire genré » conjugal chez les jeunes adultes. Elle montre que les consommations alimentaires sont genrées (via les injonctions corporelles et de santé différenciées et le marquage genré des aliments) et que la cohabitation rapproche donc les alimentations au prix de spécialisations genrées dans les préoccupations. Elle constate ensuite des répartitions des tâches alimentaires moins caricaturales que les répartitions « traditionnelles », ce qui pourrait aussi bien traduire une évolution du genre qu’un effet de cycle familial. Alors, elle discute l’hypothèse de la « dégenrisation » de la cuisine chez les partenaires les plus impliqué·es.Enfin, cette recherche explore comment le genre se développe dans l’alimentation selon la classe et l’âge. Elle montre que le degré de fusion alimentaire dépend de la position sociale du couple et de l’âge des partenaires, et que le genre consiste intrinsèquement en un rapport d’âge et de classe entre les partenaires. Ainsi, les implications d’hommes dans les tâches alimentaires sont souvent associées à de l’hypergamie d’origine, de diplôme ou de statut, et à un écart d’âge relativement faible.
... This way, harmful impacts may be avoided, or desirable outcomes reached, e.g. for containing pandemic outbreaks [6,29,30], preventing cascading failures in power grids [7,31], or fostering the spreading of social-cultural-technological innovations towards a rapid sustainability transformation [15][16][17]22]. In recent years, temporal network data has become more abundantly available from social media platforms such as Facebook [32] and Twitter [33], or long-term health studies such as the Framingham Heart Study [34] that have been leveraged for studying spreading and contagion processes, e.g. in the dynamics of obesity [35], smoking [36], happiness [37], loneliness [38], alcohol consumption [39], depression [40], divorce [41], emotional contagion [42] and political mobilisation [43]. So far such studies of empirical temporal network data mainly relied on standard statistical methods such as generalised linear models, generalised estimating equations or spatial autoregressive models [3]. ...
Spreading dynamics and complex contagion processes on networks are important mechanisms underlying the emergence of critical transitions, tipping points and other non-linear phenomena in complex human and natural systems. Increasing amounts of temporal network data are now becoming available to study such spreading processes of behaviours, opinions, ideas, diseases and innovations to test hypotheses regarding their specific properties. To this end, we here present a methodology based on dose–response functions and hypothesis testing using surrogate data models that randomise most aspects of the empirical data while conserving certain structures relevant to contagion, group or homophily dynamics. We demonstrate this methodology for synthetic temporal network data of spreading processes generated by the adaptive voter model. Furthermore, we apply it to empirical temporal network data from the Copenhagen Networks Study. This data set provides a physically-close-contact network between several hundreds of university students participating in the study over the course of 3 months. We study the potential spreading dynamics of the health-related behaviour “regularly going to the fitness studio” on this network. Based on a hierarchy of surrogate data models, we find that our method neither provides significant evidence for an influence of a dose–response-type network spreading process in this data set, nor significant evidence for homophily. The empirical dynamics in exercise behaviour are likely better described by individual features such as the disposition towards the behaviour, and the persistence to maintain it, as well as external influences affecting the whole group, and the non-trivial network structure. The proposed methodology is generic and promising also for applications to other temporal network data sets and traits of interest.
... Nearly half (45%) of all U.S. teens report being "almost constantly" online, and 9 of 10 report being online at least several times a day (Anderson & Jiang, 2018). Adding to concerns is a body of evidence demonstrating that online social networks contribute to the spread of health behaviors-including drinking behaviors-through social contagion (Christakis & Fowler, 2013;Rosenquist et al., 2010). ...
Objective:
The purpose of this study was to characterize the content and themes present in user-generated TikTok videos portraying alcohol.
Method:
We captured the 100 most popular videos including the #alcohol hashtag on the popular social networking site TikTok. We used an iterative process to codebook development, resulting in codes for user sentiment toward alcohol, type of alcohol depicted, brand references, degree of alcohol use, and positive/negative associations with alcohol use. Videos were independently double coded, evaluated for inter-rater agreement, and adjudicated if differences were present.
Results:
The videos in our sample were collectively viewed 291,999,100 times. The vast majority (98%) of videos expressed pro-alcohol sentiment. Nearly half of videos (41%) were guide videos demonstrating drink recipes. The majority of videos (72%) included liquor. Consuming multiple drinks quickly was depicted in more than half of videos (61%), whereas intoxication (13%) was exhibited less frequently. Positive associations with alcohol were prevalent; 69% of videos conveyed positive experiences with alcohol, 55% of videos contained humor, and 45% included associations of alcohol with camaraderie. Negative associations with alcohol were rarely portrayed (4%).
Conclusions:
Top alcohol-related videos on TikTok are heavily viewed. Their contents demonstrate a propensity to promote rapid consumption of multiple drinks and to juxtapose alcohol use with positive associations such as humor and camaraderie, while rarely depicting negative outcomes associated with hazardous alcohol use.
... Peer effects have been studied by many researchers. The topics range from the impact of peers on risky or illegal behaviors (Card and Giuliano 2013;Dishion et al. 2006;Lochman et al. 2010;Zimmerman and Messner 2011), drinking (Ali and Dwyer 2010;Borsari and Carey 2001;Rosenquist and Murabito 2010;Wang et al. 2010), and smoking (Go et al. 2010;Kobus 2003;McVicar 2011;Mercken et al. 2012) to academic performance (Hughes and Chen 2011;Lin 2010;Ryan 2001;Sacerdote 2011;Wentzel et al. 2004) and healthrelated issues (Barry and Wentzel 2006;Costa-Font and Jofre-Bonet 2013;Finnerty et al. 2010;Fortin and Yazbeck 2015;Godlonton and Thornton 2012). ...
Despite all the promising benefits, the adoption of fully autonomous vehicles (FAVs) is expected to require a long transitional process. While innovators and early adopters tend to adopt the technology fast, most will gradually adopt the technology after varying periods. Meanwhile, today’s social networking technologies have strengthened the influence of peer effects and caused noticeable changes to decision-making behavior. To date, there is relatively little study on how peer effects influence autonomous vehicles (AVs) adoption. The current paper explores how AV adoption is influenced by various factors, especially by different levels of individual susceptibility and prior-AV knowledge. Susceptibility is a latent variable measuring to what extent individuals will follow the influence of their peers in AV adoption. Prior-AV knowledge is another latent variable that measures people’s knowledge about AVs, which will further impact their price sensitivity. A stated preference (SP) survey was carried out in five cities in China. 1132 new car buyers were surveyed, resulting in 3855 valid records for vehicle preference. The Integrated Choice and Latent Variable (ICLV) Model is used to measure the susceptibility and prior-AV knowledge attributes, and identify their contribution to the heterogeneity of AV adoption intentions. The results show that many demographic factors influence the adoption of AVs. Younger individuals, those with higher education levels, higher income, and more driving experience are more readily influenced by their peers. High market penetration has a significant influence on FAV adoption, but to a varying degree depending on the individual susceptibility level. People with prior-AV knowledge, who are more likely to be older drivers, have no children under 18, have higher incomes and higher education levels, are found to be less sensitive to vehicle price.
... In addition to affecting transmission dynamics, social networks can impact individual health behaviors that are associated with chronic disease risks. Researchers have explored complex patterns of social network influence and selection on individual alcohol use (29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38), smoking (39)(40)(41)(42), drug use (43)(44)(45), exercise (46)(47)(48), diet and obesity (49)(50)(51), among others. ...
Behavior, attitudes, and infection can transmit across networks of contacts via social mixing, making network analysis methods a key tool in social and infectious disease epidemiology. Through analysis of the simultaneous processes that influence and shape individuals and networks, we can better understand how to collect social network data, incorporate human behavior and its collective idiosyncrasies into models and statistics as uncertainty, and thus improve the veracity of our conclusions. Using data from a longitudinal social network study of undergraduate students, this dissertation aims to: 1) examine how social structures and contact patterns shape alcohol consumption and use in undergraduate students; 2) evaluate the strengths and limitations of different methods of measuring social contact networks; and 3) develop methods to quantify network uncertainty and hypothesis testing for trait assortativity. First, we applied social network analysis methods to two undergraduate student social networks, investigating network correlates of alcohol consumption, identifying numerous, consistent associations between alcohol use and social position in this population. Specifically, network position, alcohol exposures, and relationship strength were associated with individual alcohol use, suggesting complex relationships between drinking and network topology, as well as proximity to alcohol use. Overall, this chapter adds to the body of evidence of significant relationships between network structure, social position, and alcohol consumption. Next, we systematically compared two social network measurement methods with varying levels of granularity in order understand the unique utility of self-report vs. sensor contact data, as well as trends in data quality and quantity over time. Networks were compared across and within each measurement method, using overall network structure, dyad, and node characteristics. We found few network similarities between measurement methods, suggesting that neither empirical network measurement method are complete representations of the underlying “true” social network. These analyses highlight the impact that network measurement can have on empirical network findings and suggest that researchers should carefully consider which collection method, or combination of methods, could provide them with the highest quality data needed to answer their research questions. Finally, we outlined and defined multiple assortativity sensitivity analyses, uncertainty quantification approaches, and null model-hypothesis testing procedures and applied these methods to a measured social network of undergraduate students. These investigations showed that uncertainty and biases of attribute assortativity may be predictable, given a defined amount and type of data error. Generally, results of these analyses show the potential impacts that data quality, measurement error, and the measured network can have on observed assortativity. We suggest that it be standard practice to conduct and present assortativity sensitivity analyses, and to hypothesize possible confounding or bias related to network data quality and completeness. In toto, this dissertation describes and extensively explores social networks of undergraduate students. We investigated relationships between a risky health behavior of public health importance and network features, as well as how network analysis results using observed networks are reliant on the network measurement method and the types and amounts of data uncertainty and error present. These projects have generated new results and insights into alcohol use and social networks in a college setting, compared empirical social network observations between a traditional and novel instrument, and developed a suite of analytical social network tools. Importantly, the novel methods we defined and implemented in this dissertation provide a framework with which to evaluate network uncertainty, robustness, and hypotheses.
... Social contagion among friends describes how friends can influence one another negatively through unhealthy behaviours (Christakis & Fowler, 2013) such as increased alcohol consumption (e.g., Rosenquist, Murabito, Fowler, & Christakis, 2010) or smoking (e.g., Christakis & Fowler, 2008). Depression contagion has been observed within the context of childhood and adolescent friendships (especially those of female friendships; e.g., Giletta et al., 2011;Nolen-Hoeksema & Girgus, 1994). ...
Interpersonal friendships are a ubiquitous feature of everyday life and epitomise our gregarious nature. Friendships hold numerous physical and psychological benefits that allow people to achieve both existential and instrumental objectives and promote overall well-being and longevity. This chapter explores the important role of friendships between members of different groups (cross-group friendships) in the amelioration of group-based prejudice and the promotion of greater intergroup understanding, cooperation, and tolerance. It begins by briefly describing the motives underlying friendship formation more generally and elaborating on the important physical and psychological benefits of interpersonal friendships. Then, drawing on the interpersonal friendship literature (which has typically explored friendship within the context of individuals who share a salient group identity – or same-group friendships), this chapter focuses on the importance of cross-group friendships for promoting more positive intergroup relations. It also discusses the processes fundamental to the development and maintenance of cross-group friendships and highlights key differences between same- and cross-group friendships along the way. It also explores the psychological and contextual factors that may inhibit the development and maintenance of cross-group friendships, as well as how these can be mitigated. Finally, this chapter considers the question of whether friendships in general (and cross-group friendships in particular) are always positive and beneficial, before concluding with suggestions for future research.
... Similar media effects on health behavior were also found in attention to new media, such as the internet and social media. For instance, studies suggest that social media play a role in reducing certain risk behaviors, such as smoking (Christakis & Fowler, 2008) or alcohol consumption (Rosenquist et al., 2010). The increasing popularity of social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, allows users to report personal experiences, ask questions, and receive direct feedback for health problems. ...
China has witnessed a dramatic increase in breast cancer incidence over the past few decades. Clear evidence has proven the effectiveness of mammography screening in reducing the number of breast cancer–related deaths. The study aims to extend the theory of planned behavior (TPB) with two additional components, personality traits and attention to media, to investigate the factors related to young Chinese women’s intention for mammography screening. A cross-sectional web survey was conducted among female students ( n = 1,002) in a large public university in southwest China. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that the three original TPB variables (attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control) have the strongest relationship with women’s intention to engage in mammography screening. Moreover, extraversion and attention to new media are positively associated with intention for mammography screening. The study contributes to existing health communication literature by showing how the original TPB model cooperated with psychological and communication factors that are related to women’s intention for mammography screening. The findings can be used to assist government and health professionals in developing a more effective strategies to promote mammography screening in the context of China.
... Additionally, no studies have assessed the extent to which exposure to alcohol consumption by others, either during childhood or adulthood, may confound estimates of the association between perceived norms about alcohol consumption and individual alcohol consumption. However, exposure to others' alcohol consumption is associated with both perceived norms [35,36] and individual alcohol consumption [37][38][39]. Failure to properly adjust for exposure to alcohol consumption by others may bias (away from the null) estimates of the association between perceived norms and individual consumption. ...
Background and aims
Little is known about how perceived norms about alcohol consumption may influence high alcohol consumption rates in Uganda. This study estimated the accuracy of perceived norms about men's alcohol consumption and measured the association between perceived norms and personal consumption.
Design
Cross-sectional, whole-population, sociocentric network study.
Setting
Eight rural villages in Rwampara District in southwestern Uganda in 2016-2018.
Participants
719 men aged 18 years and older (representing 91% of permanent resident men).
Measurements
Self-reported frequent (≥4 days per week) and heavy alcohol consumption (≥6 drinks on one occasion, ≥3 occasions of intoxication, or spending an excessive amount on alcohol). Participants also reported whether they thought most other men in their village engaged in frequent and heavy alcohol consumption (perceived norms). Using the network study design, we calculated alcohol consumption behavior within villages and social networks. Perceived norms were compared with aggregated self-reports. Multivariable Poisson regression models estimated the association between perceived norms and individual behavior.
Findings
Across villages, frequent and heavy alcohol consumption ranged from 7-37%. However, 527 (74%) participants perceived, contrary to fact, that most other men in their villages frequently consumed alcohol, and 575 (81%) perceived that most others heavily consumed alcohol. Overestimation of alcohol consumption by others was pervasive across sociodemographic subgroups and was present irrespective of the actual consumption behavior at the village level and within social networks. Men who misperceived these alcohol consumption behaviors as common were more likely to engage in frequent (adjusted relative risk [ARR]=3.98; 95% CI, 1.69-9.34) and heavy (ARR=4.75; 95% CI, 2.33-9.69) alcohol consumption themselves.
Conclusions
Most men in eight rural Ugandan villages incorrectly thought that frequent and heavy alcohol consumption were common among men in their villages. These misperceived norms had a strong positive association with individual drinking behavior.
... Future research may also expand the contagion idea to broader and more diverse symptoms and disorders. For example, in addition to depression, anxiety, and stress, it could be interesting to examine how symptoms of personality disorders (e.g., narcissism; Judge, LePine, and Rich, 2006;Chatterjee and Hambrick, 2007), eating disorders (Crandall, 1988), or addictive behaviors (Rosenquist et al., 2010) spread within and across organizations. ...
Combining management research with infectious disease epidemiology, we propose a new perspective on mental disorders in a business context. We suggest that—similar to infectious diseases—clinical diagnoses of depression, anxiety, and stress-related disorders can spread epidemically across the boundaries of organizations via social contagion. We propose a framework for assessing the patterns of disease transmission, with employee mobility as the driver of contagion across organizations. We empirically test the proposed mental disorder transmission patterns by observing more than 250,000 employees and more than 17,000 Danish firms over a period of 12 years. Our findings reveal that when organizations hire employees from other, unhealthy organizations (those with a high prevalence of mental disorders), they “implant” depression, anxiety, and stress-related disorders into their workforces. Employees leaving unhealthy organizations act as “carriers” of these disorders regardless of whether they themselves have received a formal diagnosis of a mental disorder. The effect is especially pronounced if the newcomer holds a managerial position.
... In addition, most studies focus on social influence during a single meal occasion 21 . Outside of these narrow settings, there has been limited research on food choice and social influence in observational studies from population samples of friends and family 22,23 , but there is little if any research evaluating how an individual's food choices may be affected by the cumulative social influence of one or more non-intimate peers, such as in a workplace, over time. ...
Unhealthy food choice is an important driver of obesity, but research examining the relationship of food choices and social influence has been limited. We sought to assess associations in the healthfulness of workplace food choices among a large population of diverse employees whose food-related social connections were identified using passively collected data in a validated model. Data were drawn from 3 million encounters where pairs of employees made purchases together in 2015–2016. The healthfulness of food items was defined by ‘traffic light’ labels. Cross-sectional simultaneously autoregressive models revealed that proportions of both healthy and unhealthy items purchased were positively associated between connected employees. Longitudinal generalized estimating equation models also found positive associations between an employee’s current food purchase and the most recent previous food purchase a coworker made together with the employee. These data indicate that workplace interventions to promote healthy eating and reduce obesity should test peer-based strategies.
... People with well-social connectedness were more likely to have healthy behaviors and better life satisfaction [18,19]. These relationships have been observed in many patients groups with different health conditions such as overweight/obesity, substance use, depression, and cancer screening [20][21][22][23][24]. Owning a larger and more diverse social network is found to improve self-esteem, which can alleviate the physiological reactivity, improve immune system, and buffer psychological distress [25][26][27]. ...
Relationships between social support characteristics with blood pressure control and recommended behaviors in Vietnamese hypertensive patients have not been investigated. This study is aimed at examining the role of social support characteristics in hypertension control and behaviors. Patients with hypertension (n=220) in Hanoi, Vietnam, were recruited into a cross-sectional study. Both functional and structural characteristics of social support and network were examined. Results showed that increasing total network size was related to 52% higher odds of uncontrolled hypertension (adjusted OR=1.52, 95%CI=1.22−1.89). Higher network sizes on the provision of information support related to advice, emotional support related to decisions, and practical support related to sickness were associated with lower odds of uncontrolled hypertension. Every additional 1% of the percentage of network members having hypertension decreased 2% the odds of uncontrolled hypertension (adjusted OR=0.98, 95%CI=0.96−1.00). A 1% additional network members who were living in the same household was associated with a decrease of 0.08 point of behavioral adherence score (coef.=−0.08; 95%CI=−0.12−0.03). Meanwhile, a 1% increase of network members who were friends on the provision of practical support related to sickness and jobs was related to an increase of 0.10 point and 0.19 point of behavioral adherence score (coef.=0.10; 95%CI=0.04−0.17 and coef.=0.19; 95%CI=0.06−0.32, respectively). The current study suggested that further interventions to improve hypertension management should address the potential effects of social network characteristics.
... Such social contexts of risk alcohol consumption were indicated in this thesis with drinking behaviours known to be shared between partners, friends and relatives (118,128). These behaviours are strengthened by the approval of higher risk intake and normative misperceptions (118,128,519,599). Providing normative information on other's drinking behaviours may help to reassess assumptions but the effects on consumption are considered small (600,601). ...
Drinking alcohol to excess is one of the largest modifiable causes of morbidity in middle-aged adults with a third of drinkers aged 45-64 years drinking above the UK low-risk guidelines (14+ units per week). Social-ecological frameworks suggest that alcohol behaviour is driven by both individual factors and wider level contexts. Evidence gaps for understanding risk alcohol use in this age group were identified for trends in intake, individual, transitional and regional associations and an age-relevant understanding of income and alcohol expenditure. The current middle-aged literature was found to be limited by inconsistent risk alcohol intake thresholds, a lack of late middle-aged adults in birth cohorts, and lack of adjustment for the wider determinants of health. This thesis addressed these research gaps using three independent but linked studies. The first study used cross-sectional data from the Health Survey for England (HSE) from 1998 (20,871 n pooled) to consider trends and demographic, socioeconomic and co-risk factors associated with exceeding the former UK guidelines (21/14+ units per week) and binge drinking (8/6+ units on heaviest day). The second study used two waves from Understanding Society (USoc), a UK panel study (12,737 n), to determine if transitions in socioeconomic or social status between waves were associated with binge drinking patterns. The final study used USoc longitudinally over 7 waves (17,407 households) to assess the relationship with income and household composition factors associated with expenditure on alcohol. Each study used multilevel regression modelling to account for shared characteristics of individuals within regional living areas, as Government Office Regions (GOR), and account for the nonindependence and correlation in repeated measures panel data. Non-drinkers were excluded from each study to avoid abstainer bias. Data from the HSE found a gender convergence in exceeding the former weekly guidelines with binge drinking increasing in both sexes since 1998. Exceeding the guidelines was associated with smoking, higher income and education, retirement, cohabiting marital status and having no children in the household for both sexes. Binge drinking was associated with smoking, higher body-mass index, higher income, divorced marital status, no religious belonging and urban residence in both sexes with associations for having friends and no educational qualifications in men only. Entering or leaving a relationship were both associated with maintaining binge drinking over time in men compared to a stable relationship status but not in women. Moving to a rural area in both sexes, changing to no reported friends in men only, becoming a non-smoker in women only and entering employment in women only, were all negatively associated with maintaining binge drinking. Living in the North East and North West of England contributed to increased binge drinking in men independently of individual characteristics and was associated with higher household expenditures on alcohol. A £100 increase in income was associated with a £0.40 increase in alcohol expenditure in middle-aged headed households, accounting for household composition factors including household size, child status, sources of income and housing tenure. Overall, this thesis contributes to the literature on excessive alcohol use by providing age and sex-specific analyses of a previously under-researched age group, discovering multiple risk factors associated with acute and chronic risk from alcohol use and spending on alcohol. These findings make use of multilevel modelling to account for regional contexts and individual trajectories of binge drinking and household spending over time, demonstrating the utility of secondary data to explore changing health behaviours.
Objectives
Although cognitive decline is a well-known mortality risk, it has not been adequately investigated, whether social relationships modify the relationship between cognitive decline and mortality. We examined the modifying effects of social relationships (household composition, social network [frequency of social contact with individuals outside the household], and social participation) on the association between cognitive decline and all-cause mortality in older Japanese people.
Methods
In 2015, a baseline questionnaire was distributed to all 132,005 independent community-dwelling individuals aged ≥65 years resident in Adachi Ward of the Tokyo Metropolitan area. The final sample analyzed comprised 74,872 participants (men: 44.9%; mean age: 73.7 ± 6.0 years). Cognitive decline was assessed using a self-administered dementia checklist that was validated using the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale.
Results
A Cox proportional hazard model with an average follow-up of 1,657 days revealed that cognitive decline was associated with higher mortality (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.37, 95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 1.25–1.50). We identified significant associations among household composition, social networks, and cognitive decline. Stratified analyses indicated that the cognitive decline–mortality association was stronger among participants with low contact frequency (HR = 1.60, 95% CI: 1.39–1.85) than high frequency (HR = 1.24, 95% CI: 1.11–1.39). Conversely, the association was weaker among individuals living alone (HR = 1.13, 95% CI: 0.90–1.40) than among cohabiting individuals (HR = 1.43, 95% CI: 1.29–1.57).
Conclusions
Although living alone and having a small social network represent an isolated status, their modifying effects were the opposite. These findings indicate that the isolation type should be considered when implementing support strategies for older adults with cognitive decline or dementia.
Partners resemble each other in health behaviors and outcomes such as alcohol use, smoking, physical activity, and obesity. While this is consistent with social contagion theory suggesting partner influence, it is notoriously difficult to establish causality because of assortative mating and contextual confounding. We offer a novel approach to studying social contagion in health in long-term partnerships by combining genetic data of both partners in married/cohabiting couples with longitudinal data on their health behaviors and outcomes. We examine the influence of the partner’s genetic predisposition for three health outcomes and behaviors (BMI, smoking, and drinking) among married/cohabiting couples. We use longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing with data on health outcomes and genotypes for both partners. Results show that changes over time in BMI, smoking, and drinking depend on the partner’s genetic predispositions to these traits. These findings underline the importance of people’s social surroundings for their health and highlight the potential of targeting health interventions at couples.
Supplementary Information
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10519-023-10147-w.
Background
Generally, pandemics such as COVID-19 take an enormous toll on people’s lives. As the pandemic extends into the second year, growing attention has been paid to the multiple adverse mental health and behavioral issues, such as suicidal ideation and substance misuse. However, the interplay of suicidality and substance misuse during the pandemic has been limited. We aimed to investigate the prevalence of co-occurrence of suicide ideation, alcohol and cannabis misuse, and the factors that are associated with these co-occurrences in the province of Saskatchewan during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods
We performed a multivariable trivariate probit regression on a sample of 666 Saskatchewan adolescents and adults (16 years or older), drawn from the cycle 10 data collection (March 2022) of the Mental Health Commission of Canada, and Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (MHCC-CCSA) dataset.
Results
The prevalence of suicidal ideation was higher among respondents who reported both problematic cannabis and alcohol use (25.8%) than single users of alcohol (23.2%) and cannabis (18.7%). Younger respondents (16–34 years) and those who reported other coping behaviors that were not particularly adaptive or helpful were independent factors that were associated with the common experience of suicide ideation, problematic cannabis, and alcohol use. Having a diagnosis of mental health disorders either before or during the pandemic, and the perceived inability to bounce back after the pandemic (low resilience) are strong correlates of suicidal ideation. Those who lived alone, between 35 and 55 years of age were more likely to report problematic alcohol use. Those who reported coping strategies that were deemed more adaptive, who reported pandemic stress, and declared a LGBTQIA2S + identity had higher probability of problematic cannabis use.
Conclusions
As the pandemic persists, improving access to suicide and substance use interventions for the vulnerable groups identified in this study may be impactful.
Cultural consonance is both a theoretical and methodological approach that provides a means of locating an individual within a cultural space via their degree of adherence to a particular shared cultural norm or model. Yet, lacunae remain in the cultural consonance approach, namely, the mechanisms that motivate putting cultural knowledge into practice. Using the performance of gender roles in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil, as a backdrop, this paper examines the roles of social network conformation (defined as the perceived adherence of one's social network with norms) and internalization of cultural norms (taken from Melford Spiro's theory of the same name) on cultural consonance. We show that the performance of cultural models is domain‐specific, with Brazilian men motivated by their social network, whereas women are motivated by their own internalized understandings of gender.
Resumo Consonância cultural é ambos, uma teoria e uma abordagem metodológica, que fornece uma maneira de localizar um indivíduo dentro do espaço cultural por meio de seu grau de adesão a uma determinada norma ou modelo cultural compartilhado. Ainda permanecem lacunas na abordagem de consonância cultural, a saber, os mecanismos que motivam colocar o conhecimento cultural em prática. Usando o desempenho de papéis de gênero em Ribeirão Preto, Brasil como pano de fundo, esse trabalho examina a conformação dos papéis das redes sociais (definido como a aderência percebida da rede social de alguém com as normas), e internalização de normas culturais (retirada da teoria de Melford Spiro com mesmo nome) em consonância cultural. Nós mostramos que o desempenho de modelos culturais é específico de um domínio, com homens brasileiros motivados por suas redes sociais, enquanto as mulheres são motivadas por suas próprias compreensões internalizadas de gênero.
Монография посвящена вопросам теоретического осмысления феномена социальных сетей, а также методологической разработки социальной топологии применительно к ним. Работа систематизирует существующие топологические взгляды на исследование социальных объектов, выявляет их сильные и слабые стороны, характеризует способы применения социальной топологии в современных сетевых исследованиях. Автором предлагаются развернутые теоретико-методологические основания топологического конструирования социальных сетей.
Background
Tobacco use, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, and harmful use of alcohol are key behavioural risk factors for non-communicable diseases, including cardiovascular disease. Individuals’ behaviours and attitudes are affected by their social environment, which can lead to the spreading of a behavioural risk factor through social connections. Understanding the spread of behavioural risk factors through social networks may allow us to identify targets amenable to intervention to reduce risk factor prevalence and ultimately death and suffering from non-communicable disease. Agent-based models are under-utilised as a tool to give insight into the epidemiology of non-communicable diseases.
Methods
We propose an agent-based model of the spread of four behavioural risk factors through social networks (defined as friendships and household relationships), based on the linear threshold cascade model. We created a synthetic community of agents each assigned a unique ID, an age (in three age-groups: 18–34, 35–64 and 65+ years), sex, and a number of connections in the relevant communities (friendships and household contacts), as well as a level ([0–2], based on increasing risk of CVD) for each of the behaviours modelled. Parameters were evidence-informed estimates, based on epidemiological data published in the literature and expert opinion. Where possible nationally representative data from the UK or England were used to estimate parameters. We used the Python package NetworkX to create the network.
Results
The method was applied to find the population risk of cardiovascular disease over 10 years for a population size of 10,000. Our model estimated rates of cardiovascular disease from 1.3 events per 1000 person years in 18–39 year old women to 83.1 events per 1000 person years in 65+ year old men which are consistently smaller than rates from observed data. We found that the model was most sensitive to the estimates of influence of spouse behaviour on agent behaviour. It was also sensitive to the average number of household contacts, particularly for the 18–34 age-group.
Conclusion
Future work is needed to address our model’s limitations which include that the model only considers two communities for each agent: its household and its friendships. Other communities such as workplaces and neighbourhoods could be integrated in the future. Future improvements will also be to add ethnicities and deprivation level to agents. Interactions between multiple behaviours are also relevant here. Our simplistic model assumes no interactions between concepts but integrating this in future versions will be necessary to model closer to reality.
Die Gewährleistung einer zeitgemäßen Gesundheitsversorgung und die diskriminierungsfreie Teilhabe der Bevölkerung daran gehören zu den zentralen politischen Zielen in Deutschland. Dabei sind sich Vertreter von Leistungserbringern, Kostenträgern, Politik und Wissenschaft weitgehend einig, dass in diesem Zusammenhang eine funktionierende Patientensteuerung notwendig ist, um die Leistungsfähigkeit des Gesundheitssystems langfristig zu erhalten, auch wenn insbesondere Patienten Vorbehalte gegen die stärkere Anwendung von versorgungssteuernden Managed-Care-Instrumenten haben. Daher stellt sich die Frage, welche Faktoren im deutschen Kontext die Umsetzung solcher Strukturen befördern können und welche Faktoren diese derzeit noch verhindern. Die vorliegende Dissertationsschrift zeigt Möglichkeiten solcher Patientensteuerung im Rahmen der Integrierten Versorgung auf, wobei Ansätze im Einflussbereich von Ärzten und Krankenkassen, aber insbesondere auch in dem von Patienten beleuchtet werden.
Zusammenfassung
Der Kenntnisstand zu Prävalenzen und Krankheitsverläufen älterer, einsamer Männer, die an Alkoholstörungen leiden, ist immer noch sehr gering und damit auch das Hilfeangebot. Die vorliegende systematische Literaturrecherche identifiziert die Risikofaktoren dieser Zielgruppe, den aktuellen Wissensstand über Alkoholkonsum bei älteren, einsamen Männern sowie den aktuellen Interventionsstand. Hierfür wurden nach einem umfangreichen Suchlauf 43 einschlägige Literaturquellen zum Thema Alkohol im Alter, Einsamkeit und Interventionen einbezogen. Eindeutiges Ergebnis ist, dass es wenige alters- oder geschlechtsspezifische Suchthilfeprogramme für Männer insgesamt gibt und keines, welches sich spezifisch auf ältere und einsame Männer ausrichtet. Einsamkeit wird in den Studien zwar hin und wieder als Problem bei Suchtkranken beschrieben, aber nicht explizit untersucht. Es wurde daher ein innovatives Interventionskonzept, das auf diese Gruppe zugeschnitten ist, entwickelt. Das Programm „Viktor“ bezieht sich auf diese Problematik und bietet ein spezifisches Angebot für Männer ab 55 Jahren mit einer Alkohol- und Einsamkeitsproblematik an.
Background:
Much of the prior research addressing risky drinking among young adults has focused on heavy episodic drinking (4+/5+ drinks in a single sitting for females/males). However, one in three young adults engaged in past-year high-intensity drinking (HID, 8+/10+ drinks in a single sitting for females/males). Consuming such large amounts of alcohol is associated with serious acute consequences (e.g., severe injury, overdose) and development of alcohol use disorder. This qualitative study aimed to gain an in-depth understanding of contextual influences on HID from drinkers' perspectives.
Methods:
We conducted individual interviews of 28 young adults (57% female, age 20-25y) who engage in HID to assess the role of context in the prediction of HID (relative to non-HID events). Two authors coded each interview, following a structured codebook, and thematic analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data.
Results:
Based on identified themes, factors that may increase HID likelihood include larger groups, social contexts where others are drinking heavily, close relationships with others who are present, special occasions, feeling safe and comfortable in a given situation, and intense affective states (especially positive affect). Noted deterrents for HID included friends' extreme intoxication, perceptions that heavy drinking is less acceptable in certain contexts (i.e., at work, family events) or among others present, cost/financial constraints, next-day responsibilities, and needing to drive.
Conclusions:
Young adults identified a number of social and psychological factors that they perceived influenced their likelihood of engaging in HID; however, they also generated a number of factors that constrained this style of drinking. Understanding the contexts in which HID is most likely to occur will inform interventions that aim to reduce this high-risk behavior.
Background
Social connections can lead to contagion of healthy behaviors. Successful treatment of patients with opioid use disorder may lay in rebuilding social networks. Strong social networks of support can reinforce the benefits of medication treatments that are the current standard of care and the most effective tool physicians have to fight the opioid epidemic.
Methods
The research team conducted a systematic review of electronic research databases, specialist journals and grey literature up to August 2020 to identify randomized controlled trials of social network support in patient populations receiving medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD). The research team placed the studies into a framework of dynamic social networks, examining the role of networks before MOUD treatment is initiated, during the treatment, and in the long-term following the treatment. The research team analyzed the results across three sources of social network support: partner relationships, family, and peer networks.
Results
Of 5193 articles screened, eight studies were identified as meeting inclusion criteria. Five studies indicated that social network support had a statistically significant effect on improved MOUD treatment outcomes. We find the strongest support for the positive impact of family social network support.
Conclusions
Social networks significantly shape effectiveness of opioid use disorder treat- ments. While negative social ties reinforce addiction, positive social support networks can amplify the benefits of medication treatments. Targeted interventions to improve treatment outcomes can be designed and added to MOUD treatment with their effects evaluated in improving patients' odds of recovery from opioid use disorder and reversing the rising trend in opioid deaths.
Models and Methods in Social Network Analysis, first published in 2005, presents the most important developments in quantitative models and methods for analyzing social network data that have appeared during the 1990s. Intended as a complement to Wasserman and Faust's Social Network Analysis: Methods and Applications, it is a collection of articles by leading methodologists reviewing advances in their particular areas of network methods. Reviewed are advances in network measurement, network sampling, the analysis of centrality, positional analysis or blockmodelling, the analysis of diffusion through networks, the analysis of affiliation or 'two-mode' networks, the theory of random graphs, dependence graphs, exponential families of random graphs, the analysis of longitudinal network data, graphical techniques for exploring network data, and software for the analysis of social networks.
Similarity breeds connection. This principle--the homophily principle--structures network ties of every type, including marriage, friendship, work, advice, support, information transfer, exchange, comembership, and other types of relationship. The result is that people's personal networks are homogeneous with regard to many sociodemographic, behavioral, and intrapersonal characteristics. Homophily limits people's social worlds in a way that has powerful implications for the information they receive, the attitudes they form, and the interactions they experience. Homophily in race and ethnicity creates the strongest divides in our personal environments, with age, religion, education, occupation, and gender following in roughly that order. Geographic propinquity, families, organizations, and isomorphic positions in social systems all create contexts in which homophilous relations form. Ties between nonsimilar individuals also dissolve at a higher rate, which sets the stage for the formation of niches (localized positions) within social space. We argue for more research on: (a) the basic ecological processes that link organizations, associations, cultural communities, social movements, and many other social forms; (b) the impact of multiplex ties on the patterns of homophily; and (c) the dynamics of network change over time through which networks and other social entities co-evolve.
The discrepancy between an individual's loneliness and the number of connections in a social network is well documented, yet little is known about the placement of loneliness within, or the spread of loneliness through, social networks. The authors use network linkage data from the population-based Framingham Heart Study to trace the topography of loneliness in people's social networks and the path through which loneliness spreads through these networks. Results indicated that loneliness occurs in clusters, extends up to 3 degrees of separation, is disproportionately represented at the periphery of social networks, and spreads through a contagious process. The spread of loneliness was found to be stronger than the spread of perceived social connections, stronger for friends than family members, and stronger for women than for men. The results advance understanding of the broad social forces that drive loneliness and suggest that efforts to reduce loneliness in society may benefit by aggressively targeting the people in the periphery to help repair their social networks and to create a protective barrier against loneliness that can keep the whole network from unraveling.
Past research suggests that congregating delinquent youth increases their likelihood of problem behavior. We test for analogous peer effects in the drug use and sexual behavior of male ( n = 279) and female ( n = 435) college students, using data on the characteristics of first-year roommates to whom they were randomly assigned. We find that males who reported binge drinking in high school drink much more in college if assigned a roommate who also binge drank in high school than if assigned a nonbinge-drinking roommate. No such multiplier effect is observed for females, nor are multiplier effects observed for marijuana use or sexual behavior for either males or females. Students who did not engage in these behaviors in high school do not appear to be affected by their roommates’ high school behavior. Peer Reviewed http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44594/1/10802_2005_Article_3576.pdf
To evaluate whether happiness can spread from person to person and whether niches of happiness form within social networks.
Longitudinal social network analysis.
Framingham Heart Study social network.
4739 individuals followed from 1983 to 2003.
Happiness measured with validated four item scale; broad array of attributes of social networks and diverse social ties.
Clusters of happy and unhappy people are visible in the network, and the relationship between people's happiness extends up to three degrees of separation (for example, to the friends of one's friends' friends). People who are surrounded by many happy people and those who are central in the network are more likely to become happy in the future. Longitudinal statistical models suggest that clusters of happiness result from the spread of happiness and not just a tendency for people to associate with similar individuals. A friend who lives within a mile (about 1.6 km) and who becomes happy increases the probability that a person is happy by 25% (95% confidence interval 1% to 57%). Similar effects are seen in coresident spouses (8%, 0.2% to 16%), siblings who live within a mile (14%, 1% to 28%), and next door neighbours (34%, 7% to 70%). Effects are not seen between coworkers. The effect decays with time and with geographical separation.
People's happiness depends on the happiness of others with whom they are connected. This provides further justification for seeing happiness, like health, as a collective phenomenon.
Longitudinal studies of adult drinking have typically excluded or sampled only small numbers of problem drinking women, and have measured a limited range of influences on women's drinking behavior.
To study the development of women's problem drinking over time, five-year follow-up interviews were conducted with two groups of respondents from a 1981 national survey of women's drinking: 143 problem drinkers and 157 nonproblem drinkers. Regression analyses examined effects of 1981 predictors on six measures of 1986 problem drinking, for problem drinkers and nonproblem drinkers separately.
Among 1981 nonproblem drinkers, predictors of onset of problem drinking indicators by 1986 included younger age, cohabiting, and lifetime use of drugs other than alcohol. The most consistent predictor of persistent (chronic) problem drinking was sexual dysfunction; other predictor included being employed part-time or never married, and experiencing recent depression. Divorce or separation predicted lower levels of subsequent alcohol dependance among problem drinkers.
Findings suggest that different personal and social factors predict the onset of problem drinking as compared with its continuation, and point to nontraditional life-style, sexual dysfunction, and role deprivation as potentially important variables.
Peer pressure is consistently implicated in the excessive drinking of college students. However, both theory and empirical findings suggest that peer pressure is a combination of three distinct influences: overt offers of alcohol, modeling, and social norms. Overt offers of alcohol can range from polite gestures to intense goading or commands to drink. Modeling occurs when the student's behavior corresponds to another student's concurrent drinking behavior. Perceived social norms can serve to make excessive alcohol use appear common and acceptable to the student. This review critically examines the literature on each form of peer influence and provides suggestions for future research.
This article provides a review of conceptual and empirical studies on the role of social norms in college student alcohol use and in prevention strategies to counter misuse. The normative influences of various constituencies serving as reference groups for students are examined as possible factors influencing students' drinking behavior.
A review of English language studies was conducted.
Parental norms have only modest impact on students once they enter college beyond the residual effects of previously instilled drinking attitudes and religious traditions. Faculty could theoretically provide a positive influence on student drinking behavior, but there is little evidence in the literature that faculty norms and expectations about avoiding alcohol misuse are effectively communicated to students. Although the norms of resident advisers (RAs) should ideally provide a restraint on student alcohol misuse, the positive influence of RAs is limited by their negotiated compromises with students whom they oversee and by their misperceptions of student norms. Research reveals student peer norms to be the strongest influence on students' personal drinking behavior, with the more socially integrated students typically drinking most heavily. The widespread prevalence among students of dramatic misperceptions of peer norms regarding drinking attitudes and behaviors is also a consistent finding. Permissiveness and problem behaviors among peers are overestimated, even in environments where problem drinking rates are relatively high in actuality. These misperceived norms, in turn, have a significant negative effect promoting and exacerbating problem drinking.
Interventions to reduce these misperceptions have revealed a substantial positive effect in several pilot studies and campus experiments.
We investigated the relationship between friendships and suicidality among male and female adolescents.
We analyzed friendship data on 13,465 adolescents from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health to explore the relationship between friendship and suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. We controlled for known factors associated with suicidality.
Having had a friend who committed suicide increased the likelihood of suicidal ideation and attempts for both boys and girls. Socially isolated females were more likely to have suicidal thoughts, as were females whose friends were not friends with each other. Among adolescents thinking about suicide, suicide attempts appear largely stochastic, with few consistent risk factors between boys and girls.
The friendship environment affects suicidality for both boys and girls. Female adolescents' suicidal thoughts are significantly increased by social isolation and friendship patterns in which friends were not friends with each other.
Tobacco, alcohol, and illicit substance use continue to result in substantial morbidity and mortality and significant societal economic costs despite considerable efforts to minimize use of licit substances and prevent use of illicit substances. Each year, more than 400,000 Americans die from cigarette smoking, and one in every five deaths in the United States is believed to be smoking related (1). Consequences of alcohol and illicit substance abuse include, among others, cirrhosis, job loss, and criminal behavior related to the acquisition and sale of illicit drugs. The economic costs of addiction were estimated as $400 billion yearly in the United States in 1999 (2). Substance use is associated with a wide range of risk behaviors. For the more commonly used substances, risk behavior includes symptoms of both dependence (e.g., reducing important activities because of use of the substance) and abuse (e.g., driving a car more than once while intoxicated, getting into trouble with superiors or co-workers because of intoxication). For example, in 2002, 4.7 percent of the population reported driving under the influence of an illicit drug and 14.2 percent reported driving under the influence of alcohol at least once during the past year (3).
The progression to alcohol dependence unfolds across multiple stages, including the decision to initiate use, the development of regular patterns of use, and (for some individuals) the subsequent development of problems associated with alcohol use. Using data from two population-based, longitudinal twin studies, FinnTwin16 (FT16) and FinnTwin12 (FT12), we applied multiple stage genetic models (Heath et al., Twin Res. 5 (2002) 113) to better understand the extent to which genetic and environmental influences impact the initiation of alcohol use, frequency of use in adolescence and young adulthood, and alcohol problems in young adulthood. Shared environmental factors played a large role in initiation, and a more moderate role on frequency of use, and it was largely the same influences acting across these stages of use. However, there was no significant evidence of shared environmental influences on alcohol problems in early adulthood. Problems were largely influenced by genetic factors that overlapped with genetic influences on frequency of use. Unique environmental factors were largely specific to each stage, with some overlap between alcohol problems and frequency of use at age 25.
The prevalence of obesity has increased substantially over the past 30 years. We performed a quantitative analysis of the nature and extent of the person-to-person spread of obesity as a possible factor contributing to the obesity epidemic.
We evaluated a densely interconnected social network of 12,067 people assessed repeatedly from 1971 to 2003 as part of the Framingham Heart Study. The body-mass index was available for all subjects. We used longitudinal statistical models to examine whether weight gain in one person was associated with weight gain in his or her friends, siblings, spouse, and neighbors.
Discernible clusters of obese persons (body-mass index [the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters], > or =30) were present in the network at all time points, and the clusters extended to three degrees of separation. These clusters did not appear to be solely attributable to the selective formation of social ties among obese persons. A person's chances of becoming obese increased by 57% (95% confidence interval [CI], 6 to 123) if he or she had a friend who became obese in a given interval. Among pairs of adult siblings, if one sibling became obese, the chance that the other would become obese increased by 40% (95% CI, 21 to 60). If one spouse became obese, the likelihood that the other spouse would become obese increased by 37% (95% CI, 7 to 73). These effects were not seen among neighbors in the immediate geographic location. Persons of the same sex had relatively greater influence on each other than those of the opposite sex. The spread of smoking cessation did not account for the spread of obesity in the network.
Network phenomena appear to be relevant to the biologic and behavioral trait of obesity, and obesity appears to spread through social ties. These findings have implications for clinical and public health interventions.
The Lagrange‐multiplier test procedure is applied to hypotheses concerning autoregressive moving‐average time‐series models. The portmanteau and Quenouille goodness‐of fit tests are derived in this manner against specific alternative hypotheses and two other tests are obtained which have the nature of pure significance tests.
Pluralistic ignorance begins with a discrepancy between public actions and private sentiments, typically produced by widespread behavioral adherence to a social norm. Pluralistic ignorance is a pervasive feature of social life and is found to characterize the dynamics of social situations, social groups, and social movements. Group identification is the root cause for many cases of pluralistic ignorance—that individuals often act out of a desire to be good group members but interpret others' similarly motivated behavior as reflecting personal beliefs and opinions. This chapter presents two cases of pluralistic ignorance: (1) concerning the attitudes of college students toward alcohol use on campus and (2) concerning the gender stereotypes held by elementary school children. Mean responses of students in percentage are graphically represented in the chapter. Pluralistic ignorance describes the case in which virtually every member of a group or society privately rejects a belief, opinion, or practice, yet believes that virtually every other member privately accepts it. The term “pluralistic ignorance” is something of a misnomer, for in these cases, group members are not, in fact, ignorant of one another's private sentiments; rather, they think they know, but are mistaken.
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We examine three family influences identified 8.s risk factors for adolescent alcohol abuse, parental alcohol consumption, poor family management practices, and parental norms permissive of alcohol use by adolescents. To sort out the unique effects of these influences on alcohol use by Black and White adolescents, we present data from a longitudinal study and compare current alcohol users with noninitiators at ages 14 to 15. Data collected when the youths were 12 to 13 years old show parental drinking frequecy as a predictor of current alcohol use at ages 14 to 15 for both ethnic groups. This effect appears to be mediated by family management practices and proscriptions against involving children in other family members' alcohol use. Good family management practices decreased the likelihood of current adolescent alcohol use. Parental attitudes regarding adolescent alcohol use did not predict current adolescent use over and above the effects of parental drinking and family management practices, but a norm-...
Past research shows consistent associations between individuals' drinking patterns and the drinking patterns of their social network members. This association has usually been attributed to the influence of social networks on individual behavior. Recent studies concerning adolescent drinking behavior suggest that such associations may be due, in part, to selection effects in which individuals form social ties with those who have drinking habits similar to their own. The present study used longitudinal data and structural equation modeling to compare the selection and influence effects among a large representative sample of adults. Results suggested that both selection and influence affect the association between individual and network drinking patterns among adults, but that social selection effects are substantially stronger than social influence effects. A cross-lagged structural equation model with a normed fit index of .975, showed that the path indicating peer influence had a coefficient of .069 (P
Generalizing Hosking (1980a), the Lagrange‐multiplier test procedure is applied to hypotheses concerning multivariate autoregressive moving‐average time‐series models. The portmanteau and Quenouille goodness‐of‐fit tests for multivariate processes are derived in this manner and three other tests are obtained for multivariate moving‐average models.
This paper proposes an extension of generalized linear models to the analysis of longitudinal data. We introduce a class of
estimating equations that give consistent estimates of the regression parameters and of their variance under mild assumptions
about the time dependence. The estimating equations are derived without specifying the joint distribution of a subject's observations
yet they reduce to the score equations for niultivariate Gaussian outcomes. Asymptotic theory is presented for the general
class of estimators. Specific cases in which we assume independence, m-dependence and exchangeable correlation structures from each subject are discussed. Efficiency of the pioposecl estimators
in two simple situations is considered. The approach is closely related to quasi-likelihood.
Similarity breeds connection. This principle - the homophily principle - structures network ties of every type, including marriage, friendship, work, advice, support, information transfer, exchange, comembership, and other types of relationship. The result is that people's personal networks are homogeneous with regard to many sociodemographic, behavioral, and intrapersonal characteristics. Homophily limits people's social worlds in a way that has powerful implications for the information they receive, the attitudes they form, and the interactions they experience. Homophily in race and ethnicity creates the strongest divides in our personal environments, with age, religion, education, occupation, and gender following in roughly that order. Geographic propinquity, families, organizations, and isomorphic positions in social systems all create contexts in which homophilous relations form. Ties between nonsimilar individuals also dissolve at a higher rate, which sets the stage for the formation of niches (localized positions) within social space. We argue for more research on: (a) the basic ecological processes that link organizations, associations, cultural communities, social movements, and many other social forms; (b) the impact of multiplex ties on the patterns of homophily; and (c) the dynamics of network change over time through which networks and other social entities co-evolve.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate a peer counseling intervention for pregnant smokers. METHODS: One hundred forty-two pregnant, predominantly Hispanic women were assigned to a peer-led smoking cessation program or to usual care. RESULTS: Compared with usual care, peer counseling reduced smoking (−9.1 versus −4.5 cigarettes daily, P = .03), but did not affect absolute quit rates (24% versus 21%) at 36 weeks' gestation. Infant birth weight negatively correlated with cigarettes smoked per day (r = −0.29, P < .01) and expired carbon monoxide (r = −0.39, (P < .001) at delivery. Birth weight for infants born to women who quit smoking averaged 7.2 lb versus 6.8 and 6.3 lb for mothers smoking one to six and more than six cigarettes per day at delivery (P < .01). CONCLUSION: Peer counseling reduced the number of cigarettes smoked daily but did not increase cigarette abstinence rates. Infant birth weight increases with both smoking cessation and smoking reduction, suggesting that peer counseling intervention programs may improve newborn health despite their failure to affect smoking cessation.
Past research shows consistent associations between individuals' drinking patterns and the drinking patterns of their social network members. This association has usually been attributed to the influence of social networks on individual behavior. Recent studies concerning adolescent drinking behavior suggest that such associations may be due, in part, to selection effects in which individuals form social ties with those who have drinking habits similar to their own. The present study used longitudinal data and structural equation modeling to compare the selection and influence effects among a large representative sample of adults. Results suggested that both selection and influence affect the association between individual and network drinking patterns among adults, but that social selection effects are substantially stronger than social influence effects. A cross-lagged structural equation model with a normed fit index of .975, showed that the path indicating peer influence had a coefficient of .069 (P<.01), whereas the path indicating network selection had a coefficient of .193 (P<.01). Comparisons across age, race, sex, and marital status groups revealed similar results, with stronger selection than influence effects for all groups.
In July of 2007, we published a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine that used dynamic data over 32 years from the Framingham Heart Study Social Network (FHS-Net) to study the conditions under which obesity might spread from person to person (Christakis and Fowler 2007, hereafter, CF). We found that obese persons formed clusters in the network at all time points and that these clusters extended to three degrees of separation (e.g., to a person’s friend’s friend’s friend). Moreover, statistical analyses suggested that the clusters were not solely attributable to the selective formation of social ties among obese persons. A person’s chances of becoming obese increased if he or she had a friend who became obese in a given time period.
Our analyses were restricted to adults, so a natural question to ask is whether or not the results would generalize to a population of adolescents. The existence of social norms regarding weight in both adults and adolescents should not be surprising,(Chang and Christakis 2003) but, of course, causal inference in dyads, let alone in broader social networks, is difficult (Manski 1993). These questions are addressed by two papers in this issue, “Is Obesity Contagious? Social Networks versus Environmental Factors in the Obesity Epidemic,” by Ethan Cohen-Cole and Jason Fletcher (hereafter CCF) and “Peer Effects in Adolescent Overweight,” by Justin Trogdon, James Nonnemaker, and Joanne Pais (hereafter TNP), and by a third working paper “Identifying Endogenous Peer Effects in the Spread of Obesity” by Timothy J. Halliday and Sally Kwak (hereafter HK). All three of these papers analyze the same dataset and population, the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), albeit with different methods and assumptions. Unlike the FHS-Net, which followed adults over a 32-year period (average age 38 in 1971), AddHealth followed adolescents over a 7-year period (average age 16 in 1995).
All three sets of authors take the possibility of peer effects seriously, advancing the study of this important area. HK summarize their results by noting that they are able to replicate the pattern of results in our study, although their results are sensitive to specification of the dependent variable. If weight is characterized by a dichotomous variable indicating overweight (BMI>25), then an association between friends is significant, but the association in the continuous measure of BMI is not. Similarly, TNP use a variety of econometric strategies to conclude that there are peer effects for obesity in the Add Health sample, especially among females and among adolescents with high BMI. For example, they use an instrumental variables approach and a variety of definitions of endogenous peer groups to control for contextual effects. Here, we particularly address the CCF paper since it is the only one of the three papers that claims to reject the hypothesis that weight status can spread from person to person. To their credit, CCF exploit longitudinal data in a way that TNP and HK do not, but there are important problems in both their analysis and their interpretation of the results.
The Framingham Heart Study (FHS) was started in 1948 as a prospective investigation of cardiovascular disease in a cohort of adult men and women. Continuous surveillance of this sample of 5209 subjects has been maintained through biennial physical examinations. In 1971 examinations were begun on the children of the FHS cohort. This study, called the Framingham Offspring Study (FOS), was undertaken to expand upon knowledge of cardiovascular disease, particularly in the area of familial clustering of the disease and its risk factors. This report reviews the sampling design of the FHS and describes the nature of the FOS sample. The FOS families appear to be of typical size and age structure for families with parents born in the late 19th or early 20th century. In addition, there is little evidence that coronary heart disease (CHD) experience and CHD risk factors differ in parents of those who volunteered for this study and the parents of those who did not volunteer.
Values for several coronary risk factors, including systolic and diastolic blood pressure, serum cholesterol, triglycerides, blood glucose, uric acid, hemoglobin, weight, vitral capacity and cigarette smoking have been found to be similar among spouses in the Framingham Study. However, longitudinal analyses show that this spouse concordance does not increase over a twelve-year observation period, suggesting that it has arisen through the marriage of similar people rather than through the sharing of a common marital environment. Apparent conflicts between cross-sectional and longitudinal findings have been resolved by showing that spouses who were concordant at the begining of the study are more likely to survive to later exams, while discordant spouse pairs tend to be dissolved through the death of one of their members.
A program of peer intervention in the drinking and driving of others compared with a conventional alcohol safety program in the high school setting. The peer intervention program led to significant increases in self-reported intervention behavior following completion of the course. The conventional alcohol safety program failed to produce changes in intervention behavior during this period. Both the peer intervention program and the conventional alcohol safety program led to significant knowledge gains. Neither program led to significant measured shifts in attitudes.
Less is known about heavier drinking in adolescents than about alcohol initiation. The present study examined the emergence of regular (weekly) and heavy episodic (five or more drinks at a time) adolescent drinking as a function of social influence (modeling and social control) from parents and peers.
A three-wave study was conducted using a representative household sample of families in metropolitan Buffalo, New York (N = 612). Over half (54%) of the adolescent respondents were female. Black families made up 30% of the sample. Interviews were conducted at 1-year intervals. Adolescent drinking was dichotomized at each wave into abstinence/light drinking versus regular drinking. Logistic regression including only adolescents who were abstainers/light drinkers at Wave 1 was performed to assess which Wave- variables could predict regular-drinking onset by Wave 2; a similar analysis examined the onset of heavy episodic drinking by Wave 2. Parallel analyses using Wave-2 variables to predict the onset of the drinking outcomes by Wave 3 were also conducted.
Across the different analyses, the strongest psychosocial predictors of advancement to heavier drinking were friend's drinking and low parental monitoring. Also, white adolescents were at greater risk than their black counterparts.
A multidimensional approach to prevention that addresses different processes of influence (e.g., modeling and social control) involving both parental and peer domains is likely to be most successful in deterring the onset of heavier drinking in adolescents.
Most twin and adoption studies of alcoholism have ascertained cases through treatment settings or archival data; these subjects may differ from affected subjects identified epidemiologically. The authors studied the importance of genetic influences on risk of alcohol-related disorders in a new population-based twin sample.
Structured personal interviews were used to assess DSM-III-R-defined and DSM-IV-defined alcohol abuse and dependence among 3,516 twins from male-male pairs born in Virginia between 1940 and 1974.
The magnitude of resemblance among twin pairs was similar across several definitions of alcoholism and was substantially higher among 861 identical pairs than among 653 fraternal pairs. On the basis of a liability threshold model, 48%-58% of the variation in liability was attributed to additive genetic factors, with the remainder attributed to environmental influences not shared by family members. When a treatment-based proband concordance model was used, evidence for shared environmental as well as genetic influences emerged.
In this first population-based study of male twins from the United States, it was found that genetic factors played a major role in the development of alcoholism among males, with similar influence for alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence. Prior findings implicating the influence of common environment may be attributable to sampling strategy; in this population-based sample, environmental factors shared by family members appear to have had little influence on the development of alcoholism in males.
To determine the benefits of social support for weight loss and maintenance, this study recruited participants (N = 166) either alone or with 3 friends or family members and then randomly assigned them to a standard behavioral treatment (SBT) or SBT with social support strategies. Participants recruited with friends had greater weight losses at the end of the 4-month treatment and at Month 10 follow-up. Both recruitment strategy and the social support manipulation affected treatment completion and weight-loss maintenance. In those recruited alone and given SBT, 76% completed treatment and 24% maintained their weight loss in full from Months 4 to 10. Among those recruited with friends and given SBT plus social support, 95% completed treatment and 66% maintained their weight loss in full.
Binge drinking (consuming > or =5 alcoholic drinks on 1 occasion) generally results in acute impairment and has numerous adverse health consequences. Reports indicate that binge drinking may be increasing in the United States.
To quantify episodes of binge drinking among US adults in 1993-2001, to characterize adults who engage in binge drinking, and to describe state and regional differences in binge drinking.
The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a random-digit telephone survey of adults aged 18 years or older that is conducted annually in all states. The sample size ranged from 102 263 in 1993 to 212 510 in 2001.
Binge-drinking prevalence, episodes, and episodes per person per year.
Between 1993 and 2001, the total number of binge-drinking episodes among US adults increased from approximately 1.2 billion to 1.5 billion; during this time, binge-drinking episodes per person per year increased by 17% (from 6.3 to 7.4, P for trend =.03). Between 1995 and 2001, binge-drinking episodes per person per year increased by 35% (P for trend =.005). Men accounted for 81% of binge-drinking episodes in the study years. Although rates of binge-drinking episodes were highest among those aged 18 to 25 years, 69% of binge-drinking episodes during the study period occurred among those aged 26 years or older. Overall, 47% of binge-drinking episodes occurred among otherwise moderate (ie, non-heavy) drinkers, and 73% of all binge drinkers were moderate drinkers. Binge drinkers were 14 times more likely to drive while impaired by alcohol compared with non-binge drinkers. There were substantial state and regional differences in per capita binge-drinking episodes.
Binge drinking is common among most strata of US adults, including among those aged 26 years or older. Per capita binge-drinking episodes have increased, particularly since 1995. Binge drinking is strongly associated with alcohol-impaired driving. Effective interventions to prevent the mortality and morbidity associated with binge drinking should be widely adopted, including screening patients for alcohol abuse in accordance with national guidelines.