Students under lockdown: Comparisons of students' social networks and mental health before and during the COVID-19 crisis in Switzerland.

This study investigates students' social networks and mental health before and at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic in April 2020, using longitudinal data collected since 2018. We analyze change on multiple dimensions of social networks (interaction, friendship, social support, co-studying) and mental health indicators (depression, anxiety, stress, loneliness) within two cohorts of Swiss undergraduate students experiencing the crisis (N = 212), and make additional comparisons to an earlier cohort which did not experience the crisis (N = 54). In within-person comparisons we find that interaction and co-studying networks had become sparser, and more students were studying alone. Furthermore, students' levels of stress, anxiety, loneliness, and depressive symptoms got worse, compared to measures before the crisis. Stressors shifted from fears of missing out on social life to worries about health, family, friends, and their future. Exploratory analyses suggest that COVID-19 specific worries, isolation in social networks, lack of interaction and emotional support, and physical isolation were associated with negative mental health trajectories. Female students appeared to have worse mental health trajectories when controlling for different levels of social integration and COVID-19 related stressors. As universities and researchers discuss future strategies on how to combine on-site teaching with online courses, our results indicate the importance of considering social contacts in students' mental health and offer starting points to identify and support students at higher risk of social isolation and negative psychological effects during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Short-term and long-term effects of a social network intervention on friendships among university students.

Informal social relations, such as friendships, are crucial for the well-being and success of students at all levels of education. Network interventions can aim at providing contact opportunities in school settings to prevent the social isolation of individuals and facilitate integration between otherwise segregated social groups. We investigate the short-term and long-term effects of one specific network intervention in an undergraduate cohort freshly admitted to an engineering department ([Formula: see text]). In this intervention, we randomly assigned students into small groups at an introduction event two months prior to their first day at university. The groups were designed to increase mixed-gender contact opportunities. Two months after the intervention, we find a higher rate of friendships, common friends, and mixed-gender friendships in pairs of students who were assigned to the same group than in pairs from different groups (short-term effects). These effects gradually diminish over the first academic year (long-term effects). Using stochastic actor-oriented models, we investigate the long-term trajectory of the intervention effects, while considering alternative network processes, such as reciprocity, transitivity, homophily, and popularity. The results suggest that even though the induced friendship ties are less stable than other friendships, they may serve as early seeds for complex social network processes. Our study shows that simple network interventions can have a pronounced short-term effect and indirect long-term effects on the evolution and structure of student communities.

Depressive symptoms are associated with social isolation in face-to-face interaction networks.

Individuals with depressive symptoms are more likely to be isolated in their social networks, which can further increase their symptoms. Although social interactions are an important aspect of individuals' social lives, little is known about how depressive symptoms affect behavioral patterns in social interaction networks. This article analyzes the effect of depressive symptoms on social interactions in two empirical settings (Ntotal = 123, Ndyadic relations = 2,454) of students spending a weekend together in a remote camp house. We measured social interactions between participants with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) nametags. Prior to the weekend, participants were surveyed on their depressive symptoms and friendship ties. Using state-of-the-art social network analysis methods, we test four preregistered hypotheses. Our results indicate that depressive symptoms are associated with (1) spending less time in social interaction, (2) spending time with similarly depressed others, (3) spending time in pair-wise interactions rather than group interactions but not with (4) spending relatively less time with friends. By "zooming in" on face-to-face social interaction networks, these findings offer new insights into the social consequences of depressive symptoms.

The validity of RFID badges measuring face-to-face interactions.

Face-to-face interactions are important for a variety of individual behaviors and outcomes. In recent years, a number of human sensor technologies have been proposed to incorporate direct observations in behavioral studies of face-to-face interactions. One of the most promising emerging technologies is the application of active Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) badges. They are increasingly applied in behavioral studies because of their low costs, straightforward applicability, and moderate ethical concerns. However, despite the attention that RFID badges have recently received, there is a lack of systematic tests on how valid RFID badges are in measuring face-to-face interactions. With two studies, we aim to fill this gap. Study 1 (N = 11) compares how data assessed with RFID badges correspond with video data of the same interactions (construct validity) and how this fit can be improved using straightforward data processing strategies. The analyses show that the RFID badges have a sensitivity of 50%, which can be enhanced to 65% when flickering signals with gaps of less than 75 s are interpolated. The specificity is relatively less affected by this interpolation process (before interpolation 97%, after interpolation 94.7%)-resulting in an improved accuracy of the measurement. In Study 2 (N = 73) we show that self-report data of social interactions correspond highly with data gathered with the RFID badges (criterion validity).

Integration in emerging social networks explains academic failure and success.

Academic success of students has been explained with a variety of individual and socioeconomic factors. Social networks that informally emerge within student communities can have an additional effect on their achievement. However, this effect of social ties is difficult to measure and quantify, because social networks are multidimensional and dynamically evolving within the educational context. We repeatedly surveyed a cohort of 226 engineering undergraduates between their first day at university and a crucial examination at the end of the academic year. We investigate how social networks emerge between previously unacquainted students and how integration in these networks explains academic success. Our study measures multiple important dimensions of social ties between students: their positive interactions, friendships, and studying relations. By using statistical models for dynamic network data, we are able to investigate the processes of social network formation in the cohort. We find that friendship ties informally evolve into studying relationships over the academic year. This process is crucial, as studying together with others, in turn, has a strong impact on students' success at the examination. The results are robust to individual differences in socioeconomic background factors and to various indirect measures of cognitive abilities, such as prior academic achievement and being perceived as smart by other students. The findings underline the importance of understanding social network dynamics in educational settings. They call for the creation of university environments promoting the development of positive relationships in pursuit of academic success.

Status Perceptions Matter: Understanding Disliking Among Adolescents.

The emergence of disliking relations depends on how adolescents perceive the relative informal status of their peers. This phenomenon is examined on a longitudinal sample using dynamic network analysis (585 students across 16 classes in five schools). As hypothesized, individuals dislike those who they look down on (disdain), and conform to others by disliking those who they perceive as being looked down on by their peers (conformity). The inconsistency between status perceptions also leads to disliking, when individuals do not look up to those who they perceive to be admired by peers (frustration). Adolescents are not more likely to dislike those who they look up to (admiration). The results demonstrate the role of status perceptions on disliking tie formation.