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PubMed1988

Social anchorage and blood pressure in elderly men--a population study.

The present study was designed to test the hypothesis that there is an independent association between the three concepts of psychosocial factors, social network, social support, social influence and blood pressure (see Materials and methods for definition). The study sample chosen (n = 621) comprised a randomly selected group of half the male residents of Malmö born in 1914, 500 (80.5%) of whom participated. A study based on a model with clearly defined criteria was used to measure the different aspects of social network, social support and social influence. In multiple regression analysis, social anchorage (a subconcept of social network) was shown to have an association with both systolic (P = 0.03) and diastolic blood pressure (P less than 0.001), when adjustments for social class, marital status, medication for hypertension, alcohol consumption, smoking habits, body mass index (BMI) and physical activity were made. Social anchorage is a concept on a structural level, that describes to what degree the individual belongs to and is anchored within formal and informal groups in society. As such, it may contribute to a deeper understanding of mechanisms behind high blood pressure and could thus be significant in the field of health promotion.

Aged↗
PubMed2006

Assessing the effects of human mixing patterns on human immunodeficiency virus-1 interhost phylogenetics through social network simulation.

Geneticists seeking to understand HIV-1 evolution among human hosts generally assume that hosts represent a panmictic population. Social science research demonstrates that the network patterns over which HIV-1 spreads are highly nonrandom, but the effect of these patterns on the genetic diversity of HIV-1 and other sexually transmitted pathogens has yet to be thoroughly examined. In addition, interhost phylogenetic models rarely account explicitly for genetic diversity arising from intrahost dynamics. This study outlines a graph-theoretic framework (exponential random graph modeling, ERGM) for the estimation, inference, and simulation of dynamic partnership networks. This approach is used to simulate HIV-1 transmission and evolution under eight mixing patterns resembling those observed in empirical human populations, while simultaneously incorporating intrahost viral diversity. Models of parametric growth fit panmictic populations well, yielding estimates of total viral effective population on the order of the product of infected host size and intrahost effective viral population size. Populations exhibiting patterns of nonrandom mixing differ more widely in estimates of effective population size they yield, however, and reconstructions of population dynamics can exhibit severe errors if panmixis is assumed. I discuss implications for HIV-1 phylogenetics and the potential for ERGM to provide a general framework for addressing these issues.

Evolution, Molecular↗
PubMed2001

Children's representations of pets in their social networks.

OBJECTIVES: To develop a child-friendly methodology to study children's representations of social support available from their personal relationships; and to examine children's representations of support from their pets compared to support from human relationships. DESIGN: Participants were 22 year-3 primary school children aged 7-8 years. They were asked to list all the people and animals important to them and then to select a 'top 10' of most special relationships. Using a story-based methodology, children were asked who from their 'top 10' they would turn to if they were the child in the story. RESULTS: Consistency in the data indicated that the children could reliably discriminate between different relationships in terms of the support functions they serve. Pets were often ranked higher than certain kinds of human relationship, and they featured prominently as providers of comfort, esteem support and confidants for a secret. Confidence in these findings is gained through pets not being nominated for functions they could not realistically perform.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Social networks and support in long-term psychiatric patients.

This paper describes quantitative and qualitative aspects of social support in a sample of 40 long-term schizophrenic day patients attending a rehabilitation unit. The influence of symptomatology and experience of life stressors on network and support characteristics was also investigated. The primary networks of these patients were found to be small, comprising on average 7 members, of whom only 3 were seen regularly. Despite this, subjects rated their perceived support as adequate. The secondary networks were of the order of 32. It emerged that greater prevalence of negative symptoms was significantly associated with lower ideal levels of support and this group of patients was significantly less likely to seek support in the event of a life stressor. This may be a protective mechanism to insulate the person from the effects of stressful relationships but at the same time means that they are isolated from potential supports. The clinical implications are discussed in terms of offering optimum support for this marginalized group.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

The social networks of women experiencing domestic violence.

The research literature has demonstrated that battered women living in shelters experience impaired social support. This study examines this phenomenon among battered women living in the community. This study compared a group of pregnant battered women (n = 145) and a group of pregnant nonbattered women (n = 58) in terms of their structural [e.g., total number of supporters, network members in violent relationships with their partners (an index of homophily or nonhomophily) and functional (e.g., emotional)] social support. Four reasons for impaired support in battered women were proposed and examined, including social isolation, failure to disclose abuse, homophily, and low SES. Only homophily was related to impaired support among battered women. In addition, the relationship between structural and functional support and mental health outcomes (e.g., depression, self-esteem) was examined. Criticism, practical support, homophily, and disclosure were all significant predictors of mental health for battered women. Implications for community-based interventions are discussed in the context of current intervention strategies with battered women.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Health-seeking behavior and social networks of the aged living in single-room occupancy hotels.

The elderly who reside in single-room occupancy (SRO) hotels often have been depicted as "isolates," lacking the interest or ability to engage primary or secondary support systems. This characterization has not enhanced understanding of how the SRO aged are able to survive in the community. With the use of network analysis techniques, this study demonstrates the inaccuracy of the assertion that these old persons lack significant social support. The data pointed to differences in network size, complexity, intensity, connectedness, and directionality in relation to varying degrees of physical and psychiatric health.

Aged↗
PubMed1983

Impact of late-life depression on the social network.

The author tested the hypothesis that a major depressive disorder contributes to a decline in social support by studying data from 331 subjects 65 years of age and older who had been selected at random from a larger community group and screened for a major depressive disorder and the availability of social supports. Impaired social support was associated with the presence of a major depressive disorder. Thirty months later, however, the surviving subjects whose social supports had improved were 2.62 times more likely to have been depressed earlier than those whose social supports did not improve. Major depressive disorder was a significant predictor of improvement in social supports at follow-up.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1998

The oldest old, ADL, social network, and loneliness.

This study examined the influence of activities of daily living (ADL) and frequency of social contacts on the loneliness and social relationships in a sample of very elderly individuals. Associations between functional ability, social contacts, and emotional loneliness and social loneliness were also assessed. The sample was composed of 221 participants, age 80 to 105 years, residing in the greater Bergen area in Norway. Results demonstrated that dependence on the environment in ADL is related to low levels of emotional loneliness, whereas only dependence in activities of toileting and transferring corresponded with low levels of social loneliness. High frequency of social contacts with family, friends, or neighbors was negatively related to both emotional and social loneliness. Results show that frequency of such contacts appeared to buffer the effect of continence on emotional loneliness and the effect of toileting and transferring on social loneliness.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1984

The relationship of personality to social network aspects and loneliness in depressed patients.

In a study of 110 depressed patients possible relationships between personality and social contact features, loneliness and contact difficulties, have been investigated. The results yielded numerous correlations between personality characteristics and different aspects of the social environment. Most pronounced were the relationships with loneliness and contact difficulties.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Social networks, host resistance, and mortality: a nine-year follow-up study of Alameda County residents.

The relationship between social and community ties and mortality was assessed using the 1965 Human Population Laboratory survey of a random sample of 6928 adults in Alameda County, California and a subsequent nine-year mortality follow-up. The findings show that people who lacked social and community ties were more likely to die in the follow-up period than those with more extensive contacts. The age-adjusted relative risks for those most isolated when compared to those with the most social contacts were 2.3 for men and 2.8 for women. The association between social ties and mortality was found to be independent of self-reported physical health status at the time of the 1965 survey, year of death, socioeconomic status, and health practices such as smoking, alcoholic beverage consumption, obesity, physical activity, and utilization of preventive health services as well as a cumulative index of health practices.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Adolescent depression: social network and family climate--a case-control study.

In a study of a total high-school population, 2300 students aged 16-17 years were screened for depression (BDI, CES-DC). Those with a self-evaluation indicating depression, together with controls matched for sex, age, and class were interviewed (DICA-R-A). The 177 pairs, where both individuals were interviewed and the control had no lifetime diagnosis of depression, were analysed in the form of paired differences for psychosocial factors and compared within diagnostic groups. The psychosocial factors were measured with the ISSI subscales and six attitude questions about family climate (KSP). Adolescents with an episode of major depression during part of the last year did not differ from their controls. Those with long-lasting depressive symptoms, i.e. dysthymia with or without episodes of major depression, had a more limited social interaction and were not satisfied with it. They also evaluated their family climate and attachment network as being more inadequate than did their controls. Depressed adolescents with comorbid conduct disorder had a more negative evaluation of availability and adequacy of both social interaction and attachment network than their controls. This group had a very negative view of their family climate. Since this is a case-control study conclusions cannot be drawn about cause and effect.

Adolescent↗