Analytic Advances in Social Networks and Health in the Twenty-First Century

2022/04/08 by Alexander L. Chapman, Alexander Chapman, Ashton M. Verdery +1 · 17 citations
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · Psychology · #COVID-19 epidemiological studies #Complex Network Analysis Techniques #Mental Health Research Topics #Psychology #Sociology

paper · pdf · doi:10.1177/00221465221086532

published in Journal of Health and Social Behavior 63(2), 191-209 (SAGE Publishing)

openalex publication_date 2022/04/08 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/02

Abstract

The study of social networks is increasingly central to health research for medical sociologists and scholars in other fields. Here, we review the innovations in theory, substance, data collection, and methodology that have propelled the study of social networks and health from a niche subfield to the center of larger sociological and scientific debates. In particular, we contextualize the broader history of network analysis and its connections to health research, concentrating on work beginning in the late 1990s, much of it in this journal. Using bibliometric and network visualization approaches, we examine the subfield's evolution over this period in terms of topics, trends, key debates, and core insights. We conclude by reflecting on persistent challenges and areas of innovation shaping the study of social networks and health and its intersection with medical sociology in the coming years.

Citations

• Different Strokes from Different Folks: Community Ties and Social Support
• Networks, Dynamics, and the Small‐World Phenomenon
• Misery Does Not Love Company
• The 2004 GSS Finding of Shrunken Social Networks: An Artifact?
• Family Status and Health Behaviors: Social Control as a Dimension of Social Integration
• SOCIAL NETWORKS, HOST RESISTANCE, AND MORTALITY: A NINE-YEAR FOLLOW-UP STUDY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY RESIDENTS
• The Strength of Weak Ties
• A Theory of Social Comparison Processes
• Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital

Cited by

• Methods for Assessing Spillover in Network-Based Studies of HIV/AIDS Prevention among People Who Use Drugs. [europepmc]
• The ties that transplant: The social capital determinants of the living kidney donor relationship distribution. [europepmc]
• Use of social network analysis in health research: a scoping review protocol. [europepmc]
• Leveraging Experience Sampling/Ecological Momentary Assessment for Sociological Investigations of Everyday Life. [europepmc]
• Roles, Relationships, Resources, and Renal Exchange: Applying Social Capital Theory to Role Effects on Living Kidney Donation Behaviors. [europepmc]
• A network analysis of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae among healthcare facilities. [europepmc]
• Stability and change in social network size over four decades: an age-period-cohort analysis. [europepmc]

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• Topics in social network analysis and network science
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• Advancing and strengthening the study of social networks in community-level dissemination and implementation research: A narrative review