Social Networks And Health Inequalities

This open access book applies insights from the network perspective in health research to explain the reproduction of health inequalities. It discusses the extant literature in this field that strongly correlates differences in social status with health behaviours and outcomes, and add to this literature by providing a coherent theoretical explanation for the causes of these health inequalities. It also shows that much research is needed on the precise factors and the social and socio-psychological mechanisms that are at play in creating and cementing social inequalities in health behaviours. While social support and social relations have received considerable attention within social and behavioural science research on health inequalities, this book considers the whole network of interpersonal relations, structures and influence mechanisms. This is the perspective of the social network analytical approach which has recently gained much attention in health research. The chapters of this book cover state-of-the-art research, open research questions, and perspectives for future research. The book provides network analyses on health inequalities from the perspective of sociology, psychology, and public health and is of interest to a wide range of scholars, students and practitioners trying to understand how health inequalities are reproduced across generations.

In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.

all countries of the world on the basis of different health indicators (see, e.g., Mackenbach et al., 2018; Marmot, 2005). However, the sentence does not ask about your own income, but about the income of your friends. Is this information really meaningful? Does it really make a difference to your own health which friends you have, who you surround yourself with in your everyday life and what social position these people have? In scientific terms, this sentence establishes a connection between the social position of actors in a person's network of relationships and their own health behavior, morbidity, and mortality. The information about the social status of a person's friends-they may also be family members, colleagues, neighbors, or other more distant acquaintances-is thus intended to provide us with conclusions about health behavior, susceptibility to certain diseases and life expectancy, and possibly about stratum-specific differences in health. If family members live together and share a common household, it is likely that they will have similar health behavior, health risks and stresses, and influences on life expectancy and hereditary diseases. But do people from an individual's wider circle of friends and acquaintances also have an influence on their own health?What new perspectives and insights in connection with health and health inequality can the examination of social relationships yield? This question will be addressed in the contributions to this anthology. The authors ask not only whether individual social relationships (such as a friend who smokes and encourages others to smoke) have an influence on individual health, but also the interaction within one's own social network. Is someone's health or health behavior more influenced by people who are similar or dissimilar? In short, the contributions in this volume ask whether the structure of social relationships-the social networks in which we are all embedded in our perception, thinking, and acting-has an influence on us in that we are more likely to feel psychologically distressed, fall ill, or die earlier than others. This also raises the question of whether the study of social networks and the occupation with sociological and now interdisciplinary network research can contribute to understanding and explaining health inequalities. This anthology is the result of several years of collaboration between researchers from different disciplines (sociology, medical sociology, psychology, public health, education, health sciences) with different theoretical and methodological orientations. The collaboration has been funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) as the Scientific Network "Social Networks and Health Inequalities (SoNegU)" for a period of four years since 2016. The aims of the network were (1) to make sociological network research better known, especially in the German-speaking health research community, and (2) to make the network perspective fertile for the explanation of health inequalities. The aim of this book is to present the current state of research, identify research needs, and point out perspectives for future research. This introduction aims to show that the inclusion of the network.

A data-driven analysis of how different people share information about health through social media. Using social media and peer-to-peer networks to teach people about science and health may seem like an obvious strategy. Yet recent research suggests that systematic reliance on social networks may be a recipe for inequity. People are not consistently inclined to share information with others around them, and many people are constrained by factors outside of their immediate control. Ironically, the highly social nature of humankind complicates the extent to which we can live in a society united solely by electronic media. Stretching well beyond social media, this book documents disparate tendencies in the ways people learn and share information about health and science. By reviewing a wide array of existing research—ranging from a survey of New Orleans residents in the weeks after Hurricane Katrina to analysis of Twitter posts related to H1N1 to a physician-led communication campaign explaining the benefits of vaginal birth—Brian G. Southwell explains why some types of information are more likely to be shared than others and how some people never get exposed to seemingly widely available information. This book will appeal to social science students and citizens interested in the role of social networks in information diffusion and yet it also serves as a cautionary tale for communication practitioners and policymakers interested in leveraging social ties as an inexpensive method to spread information.

How can research on the social determinants of health be translated into real life public health practice? Challenging the research-practice gap, this text shows readers from a range of professions how their practice can help to minimise health inequalities. The social model of health embraces individual lifestyles, social and community networks, socio-economic, political and cultural influences and the plethora of factors that can impact on public health, for instance, education, work, welfare benefits, environment, housing, health and social care. All of these can have a significant effect on people’s experiences of health and well-being, and are often unrecognised sources of health inequalities. This innovative textbook outlines and discusses key public health principles and the social model of health. Drawing on a range of case studies and the international literature, it looks at how public health research has been applied to policy and practice. The book discusses the transferability that these findings have had and their capacity to influence and provide evidence for practice. Health and Inequality covers a broad range of social determinants of health, encountered throughout the life-course, including: Pre-birth and early years Breastfeeding and teenage mothers Health inequalities for mothers and babies in prison Children in full time education Sexuality, relationships and sexual health of young people Early adulthood Welfare rights and health benefits Women, employment and well-being Adults in later life Practical and clearly structured, this text will be useful to a range of health and social care professionals involved in public health work, particularly those undertaking courses on public health, health promotion or the social determinants of health.

This book provides an introduction to the major theories, methods, models, and findings of social network analysis research and application with attention to medical and public health topics.

In their later years, Americans of different racial and ethnic backgrounds are not in equally good-or equally poor-health. There is wide variation, but on average older Whites are healthier than older Blacks and tend to outlive them. But Whites tend to be in poorer health than Hispanics and Asian Americans. This volume documents the differentials and considers possible explanations. Selection processes play a role: selective migration, for instance, or selective survival to advanced ages. Health differentials originate early in life, possibly even before birth, and are affected by events and experiences throughout the life course. Differences in socioeconomic status, risk behavior, social relations, and health care all play a role. Separate chapters consider the contribution of such factors and the biopsychosocial mechanisms that link them to health. This volume provides the empirical evidence for the research agenda provided in the separate report of the Panel on Race, Ethnicity, and Health in Later Life.