Egocentric Social Network Structure, Health, and Pro-Social Behaviors in a National Panel Study of Americans

O’Malley, A. James; Arbesman, Samuel; Steiger, Darby Miller; Fowler, James H.; Christakis, Nicholas A.

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0036250

Cited by 94 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…This could be linked to the relative disproportion of elderly people living in smaller cities, 38 but strong conclusions require further studies. These results also relate to our findings that obesity (USA and Sweden), smoking (USA), physical inactivity (USA), and limited access to health food (USA) all scale sub-linearly with population size considering 39 Preliminary data in the context of Brazil however indicate that smoking increases super-linearly with population size, suggesting that healthy lifestyle may not be a universal characteristic of larger cities. Furthermore, previous studies found that the incidence of psychosis and depression increases with the population density 40,41 suggesting that mental health is more sensitive to urban living.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

The Non-linear Health Consequences of Living in Larger Cities

2015

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Urbanization promotes economy, mobility, access, and availability of resources, but on the other hand, generates higher levels of pollution, violence, crime, and mental distress. The health consequences of the agglomeration of people living close together are not fully understood. Particularly, it remains unclear how variations in the population size across cities impact the health of the population. We analyze the deviations from linearity of the scaling of several health-related quantities, such as the incidence and mortality of diseases, external causes of death, wellbeing, and health care availability, in respect to the population size of cities in Brazil, Sweden, and the USA. We find that deaths by non-communicable diseases tend to be relatively less common in larger cities, whereas the per capita incidence of infectious diseases is relatively larger for increasing population size. Healthier lifestyle and availability of medical support are disproportionally higher in larger cities. The results are connected with the optimization of human and physical resources and with the non-linear effects of social networks in larger populations. An urban advantage in terms of health is not evident, and using rates as indicators to compare cities with different population sizes may be insufficient.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 81%

The Non-linear Health Consequences of Living in Larger Cities

2015

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“…Referent power, on the other hand, is how a lecturer is liked, appreciated, respected and taken as a role model (Bayrak et al 2014). Both of these power relationships are considered social communicative behaviours, associated with closer relationships and personal communication (O'Malley et al 2012).…”

Section: Research Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of online resources on student–lecturer relationship in higher education: a comparison study

2017

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The internet has become a key resource for students' higher education studies due to both its availability and currency. Previously within higher education, lectures, books and course materials were the only sources of information. This change, to more open access to information and more online materials being accessed outside of those provided by lecturers, and indeed institutions, is likely to accelerate and change the way students are learning. This study aims to help institutions understand better the impact of these changes on the student-lecturer relationship by exploring students' perceptions of their studies in terms of power and students' academic engagement in the classroom. The importance of the internet (online learning resources) to students' achievements, the importance of lecturers and the student-lecturer relationship have all been widely investigated. However, limited research has been undertaken examining the impact of students' use of the internet on the student-lecturer relationship, or comparing this across different countries and cultures. To address this, data were collected via semistructured questionnaires distributed to undergraduate students from three countries: United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and Kenya. Quantitative data were analysed using a simple statistical analysis approach and qualitative data were analysed using a thematic analysis approach. The results showed that students' use of the internet has improved students' academic self-confidence, academic self-reliance and studentlecturer connectedness, but students' use of the internet has increased the gap in the student-lecturer expert relationship and referent relationship. The impact and reasons for this differed between the countries involved in this study.

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“…Real social networks involving volitional ties such as friends (as contrasted with non-volitional kin networks) are not fixed (Cairns et al 1995, Neckerman 1996, O'Malley and Christakis 2011, O'Malley et al 2012, Poulin and Chan 2010. Indeed, real social networks avoid both extremes of entirely static, immutable social ties, on the one hand, and entirely impermanent ties (which change all the time), on the other.…”

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confidence: 99%

Intermediate Levels of Network Fluidity Amplify Economic Growth and Mitigate Economic Inequality in Experimental Social Networks

Nishi¹,

Shirado²,

Christakis³

2015

SocScience

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Social connections are mutable. Prior experimental work has shown that circumstances fostering an intermediate rate of forming and breaking social ties ("network fluidity") facilitate the maintenance of optimal levels of cooperation in experimental social networks. Previous observational work has also suggested a relationship between economic outcomes and network structure (measured statically) at a geographic level. However, it is not known how network fluidity might affect economic growth and inequality, particularly in an experimental setting. Using data from a series of online experiments involving a public goods game in 90 independent, dynamic social networks (with N=1,529 subjects), we show that increasing network fluidity simultaneously achieves the highest level of economic growth and the lowest level of economic inequality, up to a point. These effects of network fluidity on economic outcomes are mediated, in these experiments, by the levels of cooperation and tie formation that subjects evince. Finally, we show that wealthier networks are less unequal. Social network fluidity may play an important role in economic outcomes and hence in social welfare.

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Egocentric Social Network Structure, Health, and Pro-Social Behaviors in a National Panel Study of Americans

Cited by 94 publications

References 22 publications

The Non-linear Health Consequences of Living in Larger Cities

The Non-linear Health Consequences of Living in Larger Cities

The influence of online resources on student–lecturer relationship in higher education: a comparison study

Intermediate Levels of Network Fluidity Amplify Economic Growth and Mitigate Economic Inequality in Experimental Social Networks

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