Extent and implications of omitted ties on network measures in a longitudinal social network survey of people who use drugs.
Drug Alcohol Depend
; 238: 109554, 2022 09 01.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-35850026
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Previous research has revealed under-reporting of personal network members (i.e., alters) in studies involving people who use drugs (PWUD). This analysis (1) characterizes relationships that were more likely to be omitted but later recalled with prompting and (2) identifies network structural characteristics most impacted by these omissions among a sample of PWUD in rural Appalachian Kentucky, an epicenter of the opioid epidemic.METHODS:
Data were collected through longitudinal assessments as part of the Social Networks Among Appalachian People (SNAP) study (2008-2017). Study participants completed interviewer-administered questionnaires that collected social network data via free-listing at baseline and six-month intervals. At visit 5, after free-listing, interviewers prompted participants with the names of previously reported alters. We used modified Poisson regression with generalized estimating equations to identify individual- and relationship-level characteristics associated with an alter being reported only after prompting. We examined the impact of including vs. excluding relationships reported after prompting on local and global sociometric network measures (i.e., betweenness centrality, bridging, density, mean degree, transitivity, cliques, and 2-cores).RESULTS:
Relationships reported only after prompting were more likely to be immediate family (Adjusted Prevalence Ratio [APR]1.29; 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 1.03-1.63) and less likely to involve sex (APR0.54; 95% CI 0.43-0.67). Considerable differences were observed for participant positional rankings of betweenness centrality and bridging, and differences in network density and average degree pre- and post-prompting were statistically significant.CONCLUSION:
Longitudinal network studies that aim to assess transmission dynamics, information diffusion, or peer influence should consider the effects of omitted relationships.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Rural Population
/
Social Networking
Type of study:
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Aspects:
Determinantes_sociais_saude
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
America do norte
Language:
En
Journal:
Drug Alcohol Depend
Year:
2022
Document type:
Article