Berkeley Population Center, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA.
Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
J Public Health (Oxf). 2019 Mar 1;41(1):130-137. doi: 10.1093/pubmed/fdy020.
Personal (i.e. egocentric) network characteristics are associated with health outcomes, including overweight and obesity. Previous research suggests educational attainment may interact with network characteristics to buffer these relationships. Limited research has examined the personal network characteristics of Black Americans, who have increased risk of overweight and obesity. The purpose of the current study was to examine associations between network characteristics and body mass index (BMI), and whether educational attainment modified these associations among Black Americans.
In 2014, using respondent-driven sampling, we recruited 430 adult residents of eight low-income neighborhoods in Greenville, SC. Self-administered questionnaires assessed structural and compositional characteristics (i.e. size, density) of respondents' personal networks, socio-demographic characteristics, and health-related behaviors and conditions. Multilevel regression models with robust sandwich estimation accounted for clustering within respondent chains.
Among Black adults overall, network density-the number of connections among network members-was positively associated with BMI. Higher education moderated this relationship; among Black adults with a college degree, higher network density was inversely associated with BMI.
Our data suggest low educational attainment may reflect more homogenous and less resourceful networks. Multiple pathways are discussed for how education interacts with network density on BMI among Black Americans.
个人（即自我中心）网络特征与健康结果有关，包括超重和肥胖。先前的研究表明，教育程度可能与网络特征相互作用，从而缓冲这些关系。关于黑人美国人的个人网络特征的研究有限，而黑人美国人超重和肥胖的风险增加。本研究的目的是检验网络特征与体重指数（BMI）之间的关系，以及教育程度是否会改变这些关系。
2014 年，我们使用受访者驱动抽样方法，招募了南卡罗来纳州格林维尔市八个低收入社区的 430 名成年居民。自填式问卷评估了受访者个人网络的结构和组成特征（即规模、密度）、社会人口特征以及与健康相关的行为和状况。使用具有稳健三明治估计的多层次回归模型来解释受访者链内的聚类。
在黑人成年人中，网络密度（网络成员之间的连接数）与 BMI 呈正相关。较高的教育程度调节了这种关系；在具有大学学历的黑人成年人中，较高的网络密度与 BMI 呈负相关。
我们的数据表明，较低的教育程度可能反映出更同质和资源匮乏的网络。讨论了多种途径，说明教育程度如何与黑人美国人的 BMI 中的网络密度相互作用。
