Misery Does Not Love Company

2011/09/28 by David R. Schaefer, Olga Kornienko, Andrew M. Fox · 36 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Mental Health Research Topics #Health disparities and outcomes #Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development

paper · doi:10.1177/0003122411420813

Abstract

Conventional wisdom holds that friends protect against depression through the social support they provide; however, depression likely has a role in structuring friendship networks. In particular, we investigate friend selection mechanisms responsible for similarity in depression among friends (i.e., homophily). Preference is one explanation, yet several correlates of depression make homophilous selection among depressed individuals unlikely. We propose two alternative mechanisms—avoidance and withdrawal—that can produce depression homophily in the absence of preference. These alternative mechanisms create homophily indirectly by limiting friendship partners available to depressed individuals. We test the preference, avoidance, and withdrawal mechanisms using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and a dynamic network model. Results provide support for the withdrawal mechanism. These findings help explain how depression affects friend selection and have broader implications for understanding selection mechanisms responsible for network patterns such as homophily.

Citations

• Different Strokes from Different Folks: Community Ties and Social Support

Cited by

• Analytic Advances in Social Networks and Health in the Twenty-First Century
• Crafting Mosaics: Person‐Centered Religious Influence and Selection in Adolescent Friendships
• They Drive Me Crazy: Difficult Social Ties and Subjective Well-Being
• Friendship Dissolution Within Social Networks Modeled Through Multilevel Event History Analysis
• Who would ask whom for health advice? The structural anatomy of health advice networks among middle-aged and older adults
• Heterogeneous network approach to predict individuals' mental health
• Network polarization: The study of political attitudes and social ties as dynamic multilevel networks
• We must do better: Ableism and fatphobia in sociology
• Suspended by association: Does vicarious suspension increase the odds of adolescent school discipline?
• Meaning and Modularity: The Multivalence of “Mechanism” in Sociological Explanation
• Understanding availability of comforting support messages from a networked attachment perspective
• Peer selection and influence effects on adolescent alcohol use: a stochastic actor-based model. [europepmc]
• Adolescent Friendships, BMI, and Physical Activity: Untangling Selection and Influence Through Longitudinal Social Network Analysis. [europepmc]
• Social disadvantage and network turnover. [europepmc]
• Exploring the social integration of sexual minority youth across high school contexts. [europepmc]
• Can Social Ties be Harmful? Examining the Spread of Suicide in Early Adulthood. [europepmc]
• Spreading of healthy mood in adolescent social networks. [europepmc]
• Social Networking Sites, Depression, and Anxiety: A Systematic Review. [europepmc]
• The Prospective Associations between Self-Efficacy and Depressive Symptoms from Early to Middle Adolescence: A Cross-Lagged Model. [europepmc]
• Dynamic Associations of Network Isolation and Smoking Behavior. [europepmc]
• Analytic Strategies for Longitudinal Networks with Missing Data. [europepmc]
• Depressive symptoms, friend distress, and self-blame: Risk factors for adolescent peer victimization. [europepmc]
• Depression, Smoking, and Ego-Centric Social Network Characteristics in Ohio Appalachian Women. [europepmc]
• Quantifying the propagation of distress and mental disorders in social networks. [europepmc]
• Adolescent Internalizing Symptoms and the "Tightknittedness" of Friendship Groups. [europepmc]
• Social network isolation mediates associations between risky symptoms and substance use in the high school transition. [europepmc]
• Personal networks and associations with psychological distress among young and older adults. [europepmc]
• Depressive symptoms are associated with social isolation in face-to-face interaction networks. [europepmc]
• Mental health disorders and adolescent peer relationships. [europepmc]
• The Supporting Role of Mentees' Peers in Online Mentoring: A Longitudinal Social Network Analysis of Peer Influence. [europepmc]
• Psychological Distress During the Retirement Transition and the Role of Psychosocial Working Conditions and Social Living Environment. [europepmc]
• Social capital and HIV-serodiscordance: Disparities in access to personal and professional resources for HIV-positive and HIV-negative partners. [europepmc]
• Analytic Advances in Social Networks and Health in the Twenty-First Century. [europepmc]
• Hello Darkness, My Old Friend: Moderating a Random Intercept Cross-lagged Panel Model of Loneliness and Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression. [europepmc]
• A bridge too far? Social network structure as a determinant of depression in later life. [europepmc]
• Adolescent Depressive Symptoms and Peer Dynamics: Distorted Perceptions in Liking and Disliking Networks. [europepmc]

Related

• The co-evolution of emotional well-being with weak and strong friendship ties
• Social interaction networks and depressive symptoms
• A longitudinal analysis of how romantic and friendship involvement are associated with depressive symptoms
• ‘Phubbing is happening to you’: examining predictors and effects of phubbing behaviour in friendships
• Romantic relationships and psychological distress among adolescents: Moderating role of friendship closeness