Department of Health Policy and Management, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Interdisciplinary Program in Precision Public Health, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Department of Sociology, University of New Mexico, NM, USA.
Soc Sci Med. 2022 May;301:114909. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.114909. Epub 2022 Mar 14.
Despite the importance of the role of social networks in health, few studies have examined the relationship between adolescent social network position and adult health.
This study examines whether several dimensions of one's social network position in adolescence is associated with cardiometabolic risk in adulthood among U.S. adolescents. This study also explores the mechanisms that undergird the relationship between adolescents' network position and their later-life health.
Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N = 9517), this study uses ordinary least squares regression models with school fixed effects. Three measures of adolescent social network position, including popularity, Bonacich centrality, and social isolation, were sociometrically assessed in schools. Cardiometabolic risk in adulthood was based on 12 biomarkers covering four domains of physiological systems.
All three measures of adolescent network position were associated with adult cardiometabolic risk even after controlling for sociodemographic and family-level covariates, as well as school fixed effects. Controlling for adolescent characteristics attenuated the associations for popularity, Bonacich centrality, and isolation by 31%, 58%, and 26%, respectively, which rendered the associations for Bonacich centrality statistically nonsignificant. Adult health behaviors were the most consistent mediator for popularity and isolation, whereas adult socioeconomic attainment explained part of the association for popularity. In contrast, adult social integration did not play a mediating role. Simultaneously controlling for all proposed mechanism variables explained 17% and 18% of the associations for popularity and isolation, respectively.
Findings of this study suggest that social network position during adolescence has enduring consequences for cardiometabolic risk in adulthood. A combination of behavioral and human capital pathways explains part of the associations, though they appear to operate differently for distinct network position measures.
尽管社交网络在健康中的作用很重要，但很少有研究探讨青少年社交网络地位与成年后健康之间的关系。
本研究考察了美国青少年在青春期的社交网络地位的几个维度是否与成年后的心血管代谢风险有关。本研究还探讨了支撑青少年网络地位与晚年健康之间关系的机制。
利用国家青少年到成人健康纵向研究（N=9517）的数据，本研究使用带有学校固定效应的普通最小二乘法回归模型。青少年社交网络地位的三个衡量标准，包括受欢迎程度、Bonacich 中心度和社交孤立，在学校中进行了社会计量评估。成年期的心血管代谢风险基于涵盖四个生理系统领域的 12 种生物标志物。
即使在控制了社会人口统计学和家庭层面的协变量以及学校固定效应后，青少年网络地位的所有三个衡量标准都与成年人心血管代谢风险相关。控制青少年特征后，受欢迎程度、Bonacich 中心度和孤立的关联分别减弱了 31%、58%和 26%，使 Bonacich 中心度的关联在统计学上无显著性。成年健康行为是受欢迎程度和孤立的最一致的中介变量，而成年社会经济地位则解释了部分受欢迎程度的关联。相比之下，成年社会融合并没有起到中介作用。同时控制所有提出的机制变量分别解释了受欢迎程度和孤立的关联的 17%和 18%。
本研究的结果表明，青少年时期的社交网络地位对成年后心血管代谢风险具有持久的影响。行为和人力资本途径的结合解释了部分关联，但它们似乎对不同的网络地位衡量标准的作用方式不同。
