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Form and its health functions : socioeconomic status-based network homophily and the personal health of canadians

University of British Columbia

There exists a well-documented positive association between social relationships and health. While much of this research has focused on mediating mechanisms through which network ties function to maintain or improve health, little attention has been given to network form, an important feature that likely influences network function. One particularly salient network form is homophily – the observed tendency for people to associate with those who are like themselves. In the present study, I propose and test several hypotheses regarding how homophily in terms of socioeconomic status (SES) influences personal health by structuring the support and resources available to individuals and how these relationships are moderated by an individual’s own SES. Analyses of nationally representative Canadian data reveal SES homophily to be directly and indirectly associated with personal mental and general health. However, these associations are dependent upon the type of homophily (education- or income-based), the health outcome in question, and at times, individual SES. These findings indicate the unique contribution of homophily for health and suggest that future research on social relationships and health should consider networks in terms of form as well as function.

Text

2012-10-17

Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/43466

Sociology

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/