Social inequality, social networks, and health: a scoping review of research on health inequalities from a social network perspective.

BACKGROUND: This review summarises the present state of research on health inequalities using a social network perspective, and it explores the available studies examining the interrelations of social inequality, social networks, and health. METHODS: Using the strategy of a scoping review, as outlined by Arksey and O'Malley (Int J Sci Res Methodol 8:19-32, 2005), our team performed two searches across eight scientific, bibliographic databases including papers published until October 2021. Studies meeting pre-defined eligibility criteria were selected. The data were charted in a table, and then collated, summarised, and reported in this paper. RESULTS: Our search provided a total of 15,237 initial hits. After deduplication (n = 6,168 studies) and the removal of hits that did not meet our baseline criteria (n = 8,767 studies), the remaining 302 full text articles were examined. This resulted in 25 articles being included in the present review, many of which focused on moderating or mediating network effects. Such effects were found in the majority of these studies, but not in all. Social networks were found to buffer the harsher effects of poverty on health, while specific network characteristics were shown to intensify or attenuate the health effects of social inequalities. CONCLUSIONS: Our review showed that the variables used for measuring health and social networks differed considerably across the selected studies. Thus, our attempt to establish a consensus of opinion across the included studies was not successful. Nevertheless, the usefulness of social network analysis in researching health inequalities and the employment of health-promoting interventions focusing on social relations was generally acknowledged in the studies. We close by suggesting ways to advance the research methodology, and argue for a greater orientation on theoretical models. We also call for the increased use of structural measures; the inclusion of measures on negative ties and interactions; and the use of more complex study designs, such as mixed-methods and longitudinal studies.

Job Insecurity and the Timing of Parenthood: A Comparison between Eastern and Western Germany: Perceptions de l'instabilité de l'emploi et projet d'enfant: Une comparaison entre Allemagne de l'est et allemagne de l'ouest.

This article contributes to the ongoing debate on the economic determinants of fertility behavior by addressing the role of job insecurity in couples' intentions concerning parenthood and its timing. It starts from the hypothesis that cultural values moderate individuals' reactions to job insecurity and the way it is related to family formation. With a systematic thematic content analysis of a set of semi-structured interviews with childless men and women around the age of 30 in eastern and western Germany, we are able to show that there are substantial differences in the consequences of job insecurity on intentions to have a first child. In western Germany, a relatively secure job career is expected to precede family formation, and this sequence of transitions is rather rigid, whereas in eastern Germany job security and family formation are thought of and practiced as parallel investments. We suggest that the lack of convergence in family formation patterns between eastern and western Germany after the unification of the country in 1990 is partially related to different attitudes toward job insecurity in the two contexts.