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The classical theorists of industrialization and modernization (Tönnies, Durkheim, Simmel) viewed urban residents as suffering from debilitating losses of community and intimacy compared to rural villagers. Social Support, Health Networks, Corpore Sano, Modeling Epidemics, Sexually transmitted diseases, Paradox of STDs, Socially Cohesive STDs, Stressors, Nicholas Christakis, Social network diversity , Formalizing Support Networks Social Support and Health Networks, Social Network Analysis Th
Typology: Lecture notes
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In “The Metropolis and Mental Life” (1903), Georg Simmel argued that the modern city’s intense “nervous stimulation” produces a self that is rational, unemotional, blasé, alienated & autonomous. (“Stadtluft macht frei [und] krank” – City air makes you free .. and sick).
Lacking traditional society’s constraints, urban dwellers form calculative & indifferent social relations, with their individualism reaping negative outcomes, such as loneliness and mental illness.
Emile Durkheim’s Suicide (1897) hypothesized that either high or low levels of integration (ties to social groups) and regulation (normative constraints) could lead to four types of self-murder: fatalistic, egoistic, anomic, altruistic. (Pescosolido & Levy 2002:8)
These ideas persist in studies of how social networks affect
physical and mental health/illness and coping strategies.
Conversely, strong-tie support networks may help to inoculate
people against negative outcomes, even catching the common cold!
Colorado Springs: 401 networks – size 2-12 – with 468 cases and 700 sexual contacts; the chlamydia infection rate increased by 46% from 1996 to 1999 Winnipeg: 442 networks – size 2-20 – with 571 cases and 663 sexual contacts
Most nets were dyads or triads, but a handful had more than 10 partners.
“[O]verall network structure is fragmented and dendritic, notably lacking the cyclic (closed loops) structures associated with network cohesion and thus with efficient STD transmission. Comparison of network structure with that of an intense STD outbreak (characterised by numerous cyclic structures) suggests low level or declining endemic rather than epidemic chlamydia transmission during the study interval. … Finally, the gang associated STD outbreak … clearly demonstrates the relation between dense network connectivity and epidemicity. … [N]etwork cohesion seems strongly predictive of STD transmission intensity.” (Potterat et al. 2002:152 & 157)
Four largest chlamydia components Largest gonorrhea component (gang)
“A person's chances of becoming obese increased by 57% 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%. If one spouse became obese, the likelihood that the other spouse would become obese increased by 37%. “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.” (Christakis & Fowler 2007)
Among 12,067 egos in the Framingham Heart Study (1971- 2003), 5,124 had friend ties to another. Largest friendship component was N=2,200 (see Pajek figure on next slide). Obesity was defined as a body-mass index (BMI) ≥ 30. Used time-lagged dependent variable to eliminate serial correlation of errors, control for genetic predispositions.
Figure 1. Largest Connected Subcomponent of the Social Network in the Framingham Heart Study in the Year 2000
Can intentionally designed support networks – whether nonprofit or
governmental – provide benefits to people with deficient ego-nets?
Disease-based support networks (e.g., CJD Support Network) try to help patients & families cope with stress, comply with difficult medical regimes “12-step” self-help programs (e.g., Alcoholic Anonymous) deploy buddy systems to prevent relapses into self-destructive, anti-social behaviors
Parents without Partners; Elder Care Resources; Alzheimers Support Group
Christakis, Nicholas A. and James H. Fowler. 2007. “The Spread of Obesity in a Large Social Network over 32 Years.” New England Journal of Medicine 357:370-79. http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/357/4/370
Cohen, Sheldon and Thomas A. Willis. 1985. “Stress, Social Support, and the Buffering Hypothesis.” Psychological Bulletin 98:310-357.
Cohen, S., E. Frank, W.J. Doyle, D.P. Skoner, B.S. Rabin, and J.M. Gwaltney, Jr. 1998. “Types of Stressors that Increase Susceptibility to the Common Cold in Adults.” Health Psychology 17:214-223.
Dukheim, Emile. 1897. Le Suicide. Paris: Alcan.
Jolly A.M., S.Q. Muth, J.L. Wylie and J.J. Potterat JJ. 2001. “Sexual Networks and Sexually Transmitted Infections: A Tale of Two Cities.” Journal of Urban Health 78(3):433-445.
Potterat J.J., S.Q. Muth, R.B. Rothenberg, H. Zimmerman-Rogers, D.L. Green, J.E. Taylor , M.S. Bonney, and H.A. White. 2002. “Sexual Network Structure as an Indicator of Epidemic Phase.” Sexually Transmitted Infections 78 Suppl 1:152-158.
Simmel, Georg. 1903. “The Metropolis and Mental Life.” Pp. 409-424 in The Sociology of Georg Simmel , translated by Kurt Wolff. New York: Free Press.
Watts, Duncan. 2003. Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age. New York: Norton.
Wheaton, Blair. 1985. “Models for the Stress-Buffering Functions of Coping Resources.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 26:352-365.