School of Criminology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.
Drug Policy Modelling Program, Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
PLoS One. 2023 Feb 27;18(2):e0282340. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0282340. eCollection 2023.
Sociometric or whole network analysis, a method used to analyze relational patterns among social actors, emphasizes the role of social structure in shaping behaviour. Such method has been applied to many aspects of illicit drug research, including in the areas of public health, epidemiology, and criminology. Previous reviews about social networks and drugs have lacked a focus on the use of sociometric network analysis for illicit drugs research across disciplines. The current scoping review aimed to provide an overview of the sociometric network analysis methods used in illicit drugs research and to assess how such methods could be used for future research.
A systematic search of six databases (Web of Science, ProQuest Sociology Collection, Political Science Complete, PubMed, Criminal Justice Abstracts, and PsycINFO) returned 72 relevant studies that met the inclusion criteria. To be included, studies had to mention illicit drugs and use whole social network analysis as one of their methods. Studies were summarized quantitatively and qualitatively using a data-charting form and a description of the studies' main topics.
Sociometric network analysis in illicit drugs research has grown in popularity in the last decade, using mostly descriptive network metrics, such as degree centrality (72.2%) and density (44.4%). Studies were found to belong to three study domains. The first, drug crimes investigated network resilience and collaboration patterns in drug trafficking networks. The second domain, public health, focused on the social networks and social support of people who use drugs. Finally, the third domain focused on the collaboration networks of policy, law enforcement, and service providers.
Future illicit drugs research using whole network SNA should include more diverse data sources and samples, incorporate mixed and qualitative methods, and apply social network analysis to study drug policy.
社会计量或整体网络分析是一种用于分析社会行为者之间关系模式的方法，强调社会结构在塑造行为方面的作用。这种方法已被应用于非法药物研究的许多方面，包括公共卫生、流行病学和犯罪学。以前关于社会网络和毒品的综述缺乏对跨学科使用社会计量网络分析研究非法药物的关注。本范围综述旨在概述非法药物研究中使用的社会计量网络分析方法，并评估这些方法如何用于未来的研究。
对六个数据库（Web of Science、ProQuest Sociology Collection、Political Science Complete、PubMed、Criminal Justice Abstracts 和 PsycINFO）进行系统检索，返回了 72 篇符合纳入标准的相关研究。为了被纳入，研究必须提到非法药物，并将整体社会网络分析作为其方法之一。使用数据图表和研究主要主题的描述对研究进行了定量和定性总结。
在过去十年中，非法药物研究中的社会计量网络分析越来越受欢迎，主要使用描述性网络指标，如度数中心度（72.2%）和密度（44.4%）。研究被发现属于三个研究领域。第一个领域是毒品犯罪，调查了毒品贩运网络的网络弹性和协作模式。第二个领域是公共卫生，重点关注使用毒品者的社会网络和社会支持。最后，第三个领域侧重于政策、执法和服务提供者的协作网络。
未来使用整体网络 SNA 的非法药物研究应包括更多样化的数据源和样本，纳入混合和定性方法，并将社会网络分析应用于药物政策研究。
