Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Modern Approaches in Humanities and Social Sciences
Year: 2024
DOI:
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Behavioral Contagion as Explanations for Homophily in Multiple Health-Related Behaviors Among Adolescent Friends: A Longitudinal Sociocentric Network Study
Rui Luo, Jingyu Zhang, Cun Hao, Jinghua Li, Jing Gu
ABSTRACT:
Background: The health-related behaviors of adolescents form the foundation of health throughout the lifespan. However, young adults in early adulthood, such as university students, are particularly susceptible to peer influence due to their unique psychological and social characteristics. Understanding the homophily and mechanisms of adolescent health-related behaviors in interpersonal relationships is significant for the health of adolescents. Objectives: This study aimed to ascertain whether multiple health-related behaviors homophily among adolescent friends result from contagion processes, after controlling for the selection processes and other confounding. Methods: A longitudinal study using a sociocentric network design collected three waves of data from 512 first-year undergraduate students in two universities from October 2022 to January 2024. At each wave, social networks were evaluated using the fixed roster method, while standard scales were employed to assess physical exercise, fruit and vegetable consumption, sleep quality, sugar sweetened beverages consumption, video games playing, smoking, and drinking. Stochastic actor-oriented models (SAOM) were used to simulate the co-evolution of networks and behaviors to identify contagion effects. Results: The study included four whole networks comprising 155 (30.3%) men and 357 (69.7%) women, with a mean age of 18.7 years. This study found that all health-related behaviors were significantly homogenous. Significant positive effects of contagions indicate that participants tend to alter their own behaviors in physical activity (Estimates =0.304, p=0.025), fruit consumption (Estimates =0.089, p=0.014), sleep (Estimates =1.380, p=0.040) , smoking (Estimates =3.078, p=0.027), drinking (Estimates =0.368, p=0.045) and video games playing (Estimates =0.531, p=0.006) to become or remain similar to their friends. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that the homophily of some health-related behaviors is primarily driven by contagion mechanisms among university students. It is necessary to explore contagion when conducting network-based behavioral interventions, as the design of network-based intervention strategies may vary depending on the target behavior.
keywords: Adolescents, Network dynamic, Stochastic actor-oriented models, Health-related behaviors