scholarly journals Social Network Implications of Normative School Transitions in Non-Urban School Districts

2015 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 462-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah A. Temkin ◽  
Scott D. Gest ◽  
D. Wayne Osgood ◽  
Mark Feinberg ◽  
James Moody
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Urban School Districts ◽  
Student Experiences ◽  
School Transitions ◽  
Friendship Networks ◽  
Older Students ◽  
Longitudinal Models ◽  
Developmental Effects ◽  
Transition Effects ◽  
Friendship Stability

This article expands research on normative school transitions (NSTs) from elementary to middle school or middle to high school by examining the extent to which they disrupt structures of friendship networks. Social network analysis is used to quantify aspects of connectedness likely relevant to student experiences of social support. Data were drawn from 25 communities followed from sixth to ninth grades. Variability in timing of NSTs permitted multi-level longitudinal models to disentangle developmental effects from transition effects. Results indicated that friendship networks were most interconnected in smaller schools and among older students. Beyond these effects, transitions from a single feeder school to a single higher level school were not associated with changes in friendship patterns. Transitions from multiple feeder schools to a single higher level school were associated with diminished friendship stability, more loosely connected friendship networks, increased social distance between students, and friendship segregation between students who formerly attended different schools.

scholarly journals Social Network Research contribution to evaluating process in a feasibility study of a peer-led and school-based sexual health intervention

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Broccatelli ◽  
Peng Wang ◽  
Lisa McDaid ◽  
Mark McCann ◽  
Sharon Anne Simpson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Sexual Health ◽  
Health Knowledge ◽  
Complex Interventions ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Feasibility Trial ◽  
Friendship Networks ◽  
Intervention Delivery ◽  
School Based ◽  
Network Research

AbstractThere is growing interest in social network-based programmes to improve health, but rigorous methods using Social Network research to evaluate the process of these interventions is less well developed. Using data from the “STis And Sexual Health” (STASH) feasibility trial of a school-based, peer-led intervention on sexual health prevention, we illustrate how network data analysis results can address key components of process evaluations for complex interventions—implementation, mechanisms of impacts, and context. STASH trained students as Peer Supporters (PS) to diffuse sexual health messages though face-to-face interactions and online Facebook (FB) groups. We applied a Multilevel Exponential Random Graph modelling approach to analyse the interdependence between offline friendship relationships and online FB ties and how these different relationships align. Our results suggest that the creation of online FB communities mirrored offline adolescent groups, demonstrating fidelity of intervention delivery. Data on informal friendship networks related to student’s individual characteristics (i.e., demographics, sexual health knowledge and adherence to norms, which were included for STASH), contributed to an understanding of the social relational ‘building’ mechanisms that sustain tie-formation. This knowledge could assist the selection of opinion leaders, improving identification of influential peers situated in optimal network positions. This work provides a novel contribution to understanding how to integrate network research with the process evaluation of a network intervention.

A Replication of a Quasi-Experimental Approach to Estimating Middle School Structural Transition Effects on Student Learning Trajectories

2021 ◽  
pp. 089590482098779
Author(s):  
Allison Atteberry ◽  
Robbee Wedow ◽  
Nathan J. Cook ◽  
Andrew McEachin
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Structural Transition ◽  
Experimental Approach ◽  
Scientific Practice ◽  
School Transitions ◽  
Replication Studies ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Transition Effects ◽  
Causal Impact ◽  
Achievement Trajectories

Using a dataset that includes over 17 million students from across all 50 states, we estimate the causal impact of making structural transitions into middle school (in grades 4, 5, 6, or 7) on student math and reading achievement trajectories. This dataset provides an ideal opportunity to engage in the valuable scientific practice of conducting replication studies. Prior research on the impacts of middle school transitions is of high quality and rests on a strong causal warrant, but the study settings vary greatly and use data from a prior decade. We conduct a replication (i.e., using the same methods on different data) using larger, broader, and more recent data. We extend prior analyses in ways that may further strengthen the causal warrant. Finally, we explore heterogeneity of effects across subgroups and states, which may help reconcile differences in the magnitude of estimated effects across studies.

Beyond dyadic interdependence: Actor-oriented models for co-evolving social networks and individual behaviors

2007 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 397-404 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Burk ◽  
Christian E.G. Steglich ◽  
Tom A.B. Snijders
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Model Specification ◽  
Parameter Estimates ◽  
Friendship Networks ◽  
Selection Procedures ◽  
Delinquent Behaviors ◽  
Network Analyses ◽  
Behavioral Dynamics ◽  
Individual Behaviors

Actor-oriented models are described as a longitudinal strategy for examining the co-evolution of social networks and individual behaviors. We argue that these models provide advantages over conventional approaches due to their ability to account for inherent dependencies between individuals embedded in a social network (i.e., reciprocity, transitivity) and model interdependencies between network and behavioral dynamics. We provide a brief explanation of actor-oriented processes, followed by a description of parameter estimates, model specification, and selection procedures used by the Simulation Investigation for Empirical Network Analyses (SIENA) software program (Snijders, Steglich, Schweinberger, & Huisman, 2006). To illustrate the applicability of these models, we provide an empirical example investigating the co-evolution of friendship networks and delinquent behaviors in a longitudinal sample of Swedish adolescents with the goal of simultaneously assessing selection and influence processes. Findings suggest both processes play a substantive role in the observed dynamics of delinquent behaviors, with influence having a relatively stronger role than selection (especially in reciprocated friendships).

scholarly journals Brain connectivity dynamics during social interaction reflect social network structure

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralf Schmälzle ◽  
Matthew Brook O’Donnell ◽  
Javier O. Garcia ◽  
Christopher N. Cascio ◽  
Joseph Bayer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Social Exclusion ◽  
Network Structure ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
Friendship Networks ◽  
Imaging Data ◽  
Network Characteristics ◽  
Social Network Structure ◽  
Mentalizing System

AbstractSocial ties are crucial for humans. Disruption of ties through social exclusion has a marked effect on our thoughts and feelings; however, such effects can be tempered by broader social network resources. Here, we use functional magnetic resonance imaging data acquired from 80 male adolescents to investigate how social exclusion modulates functional connectivity within and across brain networks involved in social pain and understanding the mental states of others (i.e., mentalizing). Furthermore, using objectively logged friendship network data, we examine how individual variability in brain reactivity to social exclusion relates to the density of participants’ friendship networks, an important aspect of social network structure. We find increased connectivity within a set of regions previously identified as a mentalizing system during exclusion relative to inclusion. These results are consistent across the regions of interest as well as a whole-brain analysis. Next, examining how social network characteristics are associated with task-based connectivity dynamics, participants who showed greater changes in connectivity within the mentalizing system when socially excluded by peers had less dense friendship networks. This work provides novel insight to understand how distributed brain systems respond to social and emotional challenges, and how such brain dynamics might vary based on broader social network characteristics.

scholarly journals Extraversion is associated with advice network size, but not network density or emotional closeness to network members

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Connor Malcolm ◽  
Tamsin Saxton ◽  
Kris McCarty ◽  
Sam G. B. Roberts ◽  
Thomas Victor Pollet
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Network Size ◽  
Network Density ◽  
Friendship Networks ◽  
Social Self ◽  
Emotional Closeness ◽  
Personality Variables ◽  
Social Network Size ◽  
The Social ◽  
Personal Wellbeing

Friendship networks are instrumental to a whole range of outcomes including career success and personal wellbeing, and as such it is important to ask how social networks are shaped by personality variables. However, previous research examining how extraversion is associated with social network size and closeness to social network members has produced inconsistent findings. Here, we assessed how extraversion (HEXACO model) was associated with three key features of advice networks (size, density, and emotional closeness to network members) in a sample of 199 participants (17 - 75 years, M = 25, SD = 11; 146 women). We found that higher levels of extraversion (and its four facets: social self-esteem, social boldness, sociability, and liveliness) corresponded to a significantly larger advice network, but not greater network density, or greater emotional closeness to network members. The social manifestation of extraversion here seems to be operationalised in terms of a greater number of interactive advice partners, but no increased probability of ensuring that contacts are connected to each other, or of developing emotionally deep relationships with contacts.

scholarly journals The co-evolution of emotional well-being with weak and strong friendship ties

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timon Elmer ◽  
Zsófia Boda ◽  
Christoph Stadtfeld
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Social Influence ◽  
Social Integration ◽  
Social Ties ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Social Selection ◽  
Friendship Networks ◽  
Social Mechanisms ◽  
Friendship Selection

Social ties are strongly related to well-being. But what characterizes this relationship? This study investigates social mechanisms explaining how social ties affect well-being through social integration and social influence, and how well-being affects social ties through social selection. We hypothesize that highly integrated individuals–those with more extensive and dense friendship networks–report higher emotional well-being than others. Moreover, emotional well-being should be influenced by the well-being of close friends. Finally, well-being should affect friendship selection when individuals prefer others with higher levels of well-being, and others whose well-being is similar to theirs. We test our hypotheses using longitudinal social network and well-being data of 117 individuals living in a graduate housing community. The application of a novel extension of Stochastic Actor-Oriented Models for ordered networks (ordered SAOMs) allows us to detail and test our hypotheses for weak- and strong-tied friendship networks simultaneously. Results do not support our social integration and social influence hypotheses but provide evidence for selection: individuals with higher emotional well-being tend to have more strong-tied friends, and there are homophily processes regarding emotional well-being in strong-tied networks. Our study highlights the two-directional relationship between social ties and well-being, and demonstrates the importance of considering different tie strengths for various social processes.

scholarly journals Service, Activism, and Friendships in High School: A Longitudinal Social Network Analysis of Peer Influence and Critical Beliefs

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher M. Wegemer
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Social Network Analysis ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Peer Influence ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Network Effects ◽  
Friendship Networks ◽  
Relative Contribution ◽  
Service Activities

AbstractScholars acknowledge that friends shape youth civic engagement, but the relative contribution of peer influence and critical beliefs to civic behaviors has yet to be disaggregated. Informed by sociopolitical development and critical consciousness theories, the present study used longitudinal social network analysis to examine peer socialization and adolescents’ awareness of systemic inequities in relation to participation in service and activist activities at a high school serving primarily low-income Latinx youth. Students were surveyed in May 2019 and May 2020 (N = 354; 51% female; in 2019, Mage = 15.9, age range 14.4 to 18.5). The results yielded evidence of peer influence on service activities, but not activism or perceptions of inequities. In contrast, adolescents’ perception of inequities predicted their activist behavior, but not service, after controlling for network effects and individual covariates. The school provided scaffolding for service activities, but not activist activities, potentially explaining the salience of service participation in youth friendship networks.

scholarly journals Multidimensional homophily in friendship networks

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
PER BLOCK ◽  
THOMAS GRUND
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Social Network Analysis ◽  
Social Class ◽  
Network Analysis ◽  
Network Models ◽  
One Dimension ◽  
Friendship Networks ◽  
Friendship Formation ◽  
Multiple Groups ◽  
Main Effects

AbstractHomophily—the tendency for individuals to associate with similar others—is one of the most persistent findings in social network analysis. Its importance is established along the lines of a multitude of sociologically relevant dimensions, e.g. sex, ethnicity and social class. Existing research, however, mostly focuses on one dimension at a time. But people are inherently multidimensional, have many attributes and are members of multiple groups. In this article, we explore such multidimensionality further in the context of network dynamics. Are friendship ties increasingly likely to emerge and persist when individuals have an increasing number of attributes in common? We analyze eleven friendship networks of adolescents, draw on stochastic actor-oriented network models and focus on the interaction of established homophily effects. Our results indicate that main effects for homophily on various dimensions are positive. At the same time, the interaction of these homophily effects is negative. There seems to be a diminishing effect for having more than one attribute in common. We conclude that studies of homophily and friendship formation need to address such multidimensionality further.

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