Department of Social Medicine, Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI), Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Department of Sexual Health, Infectious Diseases, and Environmental Health, Public Health Service South Limburg, Heerlen, the Netherlands.
BMC Public Health. 2022 Dec 3;22(1):2253. doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-14500-2.
Social networks, i.e., all social relationships that people have, contribute to well-being and health. Governmental measures against COVID-19 were explicitly aimed to decrease physical social contact. We evaluated ego-centric social network structure and function, and changes therein, among various sociodemographic subgroups before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Independently living Dutch adults aged 40 years and older participating in the SaNAE longitudinal cohort study filled in online questionnaires in 2019 and 2020. Changes in network size (network structure) and social supporters (network function) were assessed. Associations with risk for changes (versus stable) were assessed for sociodemographic subgroups (sex, age, educational level, and urbanization level) using multivariable regression analyses, adjusted for confounders.
Of 3,344 respondents 55% were men with a mean age of 65 years (age range 41-95 in 2020). In all assessed sociodemographic subgroups, decreases were observed in mean network size (total population: 11.4 to 9.8), the number of emotional supporters (7.2 to 6.1), and practical supporters (2.2 to 1.8), and an increase in the number of informational supporters (4.1 to 4.7). In all subgroups, the networks changed to being more family oriented. Some individuals increased their network size or number of supporters; they were more often women, higher-educated, or living in rural areas.
The COVID-19 pandemic impacted social networks of people aged 40 years and older, as they increased informational support and reduced the number of their social relationships, mainly in terms of emotional and practical supporters. Notably, some individuals did not show such unfavorable trends and managed to reorganize their networks to attribute social support roles more centrally.
社交网络，即人们拥有的所有社交关系，有助于幸福感和健康。针对 COVID-19 的政府措施明确旨在减少身体社交接触。我们评估了各种社会人口统计学亚组在 COVID-19 大流行之前和期间的自我中心社交网络结构和功能及其变化。
独立生活的荷兰 40 岁及以上成年人参加了 SaNAE 纵向队列研究，在 2019 年和 2020 年在线填写了问卷。评估了网络规模（网络结构）和社会支持者（网络功能）的变化。使用多变量回归分析，针对社会人口统计学亚组（性别、年龄、教育水平和城市化水平）评估与变化（相对于稳定）相关的风险，调整了混杂因素。
在 3344 名受访者中，55%为男性，平均年龄为 65 岁（2020 年年龄范围为 41-95 岁）。在所有评估的社会人口统计学亚组中，平均网络规模（总人口：11.4 至 9.8）、情感支持者人数（7.2 至 6.1）和实际支持者人数（2.2 至 1.8）减少，信息支持者人数增加（4.1 至 4.7）。在所有亚组中，网络变得更加以家庭为导向。一些人增加了他们的网络规模或支持者人数；他们更有可能是女性、受过高等教育或居住在农村地区。
COVID-19 大流行影响了 40 岁及以上人群的社交网络，因为他们增加了信息支持，减少了社交关系的数量，主要是在情感和实际支持者方面。值得注意的是，一些人没有表现出这种不利趋势，并设法重新组织他们的网络，更集中地赋予社会支持角色。
