Essays
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AIDS and Social Networks - Weinreb, Alexander
During the past 30 years, research on the global AIDS pandemic and on social networks has coevolved. Insights from social networks literature have advanced our understandings of AIDS; simultaneously, key empirical insights from the AIDS literature have furthered the development of social network research—especially methodologically. We elaborate on this reciprocal relationship, identifying some of the key developments and future directions for research on AIDS and on social networks generally. From existing literatures, we discuss how (i) social networks analysis was central to early attempts to understand the spread of HIV through sexual and needle‐sharing relationships; (ii) subsequent prevention efforts leveraged similar insights to different ends; (iii) social networks have been crucial in understanding patterns of care for people living with HIV/AIDS; and (iv) the structural composition of networks across international, organizational, and individual levels highlights the epidemic's global implications in ways that extend far beyond epidemiology. We contend that future research must integrate recent developments from both fields in order advance understandings. Among these, we identify as most promising: (i) a move from static modeling approaches toward research emphasizing the dynamic properties of networks; (ii) a shifting focus from single networks in isolation (e.g., sexual transmission networks) to the analysis of multiplex networks (i.e., those involving multiple relationship types represented simultaneously); and (iii) an acknowledgment—conceptual and methodological—of the “vertical” embeddedness of networks. Continued advances in this area will require the gathering of high quality social network data specifically designed to address such questions. -
Applications of Selective Exposure and Attention to Information for Understanding Health and Health Disparities - Earl, Allison
In this essay, we discuss how social psychological work on selective exposure and attention can be used to understand information selection decisions in a health context. In particular, we begin with an overview of the selective exposure and attention literatures, including a summary of literature suggesting that people are more likely to seek out (selective exposure) and pay attention to (selective attention) information they agree versus disagree with. We then discuss various motives that may influence information selection and attention. Finally, we conclude with a summary of how the work on selective exposure and attention can be brought to bear on health message design and reduction of health disparities. -
Did That Brownie Do Its Job? Stress, Eating, and the Biobehavioral Effects of Comfort Food - Janet Tomiyama, A.
Comfort eating is a widespread behavior, but does it actually work? The purpose of this review is to provide a summary of the existing research on the potentially comforting effects of comfort food. We begin by summarizing the existing nonhuman animal research in this area, and then summarize the human research. On the basis of this foundational research, we provide a conceptual model of comfort eating that can be used as a hypothesis‐generating tool to guide future research. Finally, we highlight what we consider to be the most exciting future directions in comfort eating. These include (i) determining whether comfort eating is trait‐like or state‐like, (ii) understanding the antecedents and sequelae of comfort eating, (iii) elucidating the types of food implicated in comfort eating, (iv) creating linkages between comfort eating and comfort drinking, (v) incorporating measures of the autonomic nervous and immune systems in addition to the current focus on the hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenocortical axis, (vi) studying both short‐term and long‐term effects, and (vii) testing the biological and psychological mechanisms of comfort eating. Given that comfort eating has been practiced for centuries, we conclude that the time is ripe to advance the science of comfort eating. -
Disability in a Global Context - Albrecht, Gary L.
Disability is a condition that directly involves over 15% of the global population with reverberations throughout every nation and level of society. The World Bank, World Health Organization, and Gates Foundation emphasize that this population has serious social and economic effects on the stability and development of nations and well‐being of individuals touched by disability. This essay places disability in a global context and details the foundational work in the field. Cutting edge research combining biomedical advances, smartphone and computer technology, robotics, artificial intelligence and analysis of social networks and cultural contexts, disability activism and agency, and physical, social, political, and economic environments are examined. Looking to the future, the essay explores the consequences of global population growth, migration, environmental changes, and increased demand for services and technological innovation on the world's disabled population, their social networks, and nations. Lastly, the importance of exploring global disability in all areas of the world while being open to similarities and differences is emphasized. -
Health and Social Inequality - Pescosolido, Bernice A.
The link between social cleavages and life chances has been a mainstay of sociology, social science, and public health's contribution to understanding well‐being, morbidity, and mortality. From early classic work to the most recent studies, inequality has been associated with the incidence and prevalence of disease, access to health care, and higher‐than‐expected death rates, even for infants. Importantly, these differences have been documented for individuals, for neighborhoods, and for nations. On all of these key indicators, there is a clear gradient, whether measured by socioeconomic status (SES), education, or even social networks. Recent work has restated and expanded the impact of inequality through the Theory of Fundamental Causes and a focus on “health disparities.” The latter targets group membership by race, ethnicity, and/or gender, to name a few social characteristics. However, challenges arise from pushing our understandings of the role of inequalities further as status configurations, for example, only proxy the social interactions, social conditions, and social experiences that produce inequality. New theoretical and empirical research also suggests that incorporating biology into our understanding of how social inequality translates into poor health, unequal treatment, and premature death can be done by synthesizing new visions of sociocultural embeddedness with biological embedding into a complex systems framework for health and health care research. This integration dismisses the “old silos” and calls for increased collaborations across the sociomedical sciences, medicine, and genetics. -
Immigrant Health Paradox - Markides, Kyriakos S.
With rising rates of immigration around the globe we have seen increased interest in the socioeconomic situation of immigrants as well as their health status and health care needs, and their impact on the host countries' health care system. Much of the research has focused on immigrants of non‐Western origin to the three traditional immigration destinations—the United States, Canada, and Australia. While earlier research was often focused on the negative impact of immigration on immigrants' health and mental health, research in the last couple decades has consistently found evidence of relatively good health among most immigrants especially “voluntary” immigrants from non‐Western origins to western nations, a finding often referred to as an immigrant health paradox. Most interest in immigrant health in the United States has focused primarily on immigrants from Latin America, especially Mexico. Immigrants tend to have better health and mortality profiles than the native born, especially from the same racial/ethnic group. While there are some exceptions to these findings, which we note in the current entry, the preponderance of evidence indicates that selection processes are pivotal for understanding the paradox. Sociocultural resources have also been implicated; however, most of this line of research is still underdeveloped. In the current investigation we outline (a) foundational research, (b) cutting edge research, and (c) key issues for future research. We argue that better health among immigrants is not necessarily paradoxical. Most “voluntary” immigrants arrive in their country of destination with good health and a positive outlook on life. However, the finding that longer stays in the United States deplete health likely reflects acculturation forces. More research is needed to more adequately capture acculturative stress processes, changes in lifestyle factors (smoking, diet, and exercise), and the sociocultural resources that protect immigrants from being vulnerable to premature mortality. -
Self‐Fulfilling Prophesies, Placebo Effects, and the Social–Psychological Creation of Reality - Crum, Alia
In this essay, we pull together foundational research from the psychological, sociological, and medical sciences to illuminate the undeniable influence of the psychosocial context in constructing objective reality. From psychology, we review the growing body of research on how beliefs and expectations about common experiences (e.g., nutrition, stress, and aging) can fundamentally alter the impact of those experiences. From sociology, we review the role of social influence in constructing the quality and impact of cultural products and experiences. And from medicine, we review the neurological and physiological underpinnings of the placebo effect, a powerful demonstration of expectation and social context to produce physiological changes in the body. As we align evidence from these related—although currently disconnected—fields, we uncover important limitations from within each field of study and portray how an integrative approach can offer a more rich and comprehensive understanding of the phenomena underlying the social–psychological creation of reality. Combining foundational research with the interdisciplinary findings from our laboratory, we explore how psychological and social contexts can fundamentally alter the psychological, behavioral, and physiological effects of one of the most common human experiences: drinking water. To conclude, we present a series of questions and suggestions to assist and inspire further interdisciplinary collaboration. We offer a pathway for researchers to more frequently acknowledge, more thoroughly understand, and more effectively utilize the power of psychosocial influence to effect positive change in a number of disciplines including marketing, medicine, and public health. -
Social Relationships and Health in Older Adulthood - Robles, Theodore F.
Older adults make up a larger proportion of the population and are living longer than in any time in previous history, which has important implications for their social relationships. This essay reviews key theory and research on changes in social networks over the lifespan, the benefits (and costs) of social relationships for physical health, and the health impact of loss of social relationships during older age. Methodological innovations are shedding new light on the specific biological mechanisms that explain how high and low quality social relationships can impact health, and we review these innovations in different contexts: marriage and loneliness. While social networks generally decrease in size across the lifespan, there is considerable potential for expanding social networks and forming new relationships in later life. However, the research literature on forming new friendships and intimate relationships in older adults is quite limited. Thus, this essay concludes by describing key issues and methodological challenges involved in studying new relationship formation in older adults. -
Social, Psychological, and Physiological Reactions to Stress - McEwen, Bruce S.
Emerging research examines biological processes not as primary causes of social outcomes but rather as mechanisms that themselves depend on social environments. In particular, environments that produce toxic stress help shape brain development and brain and body function throughout the lifespan. Early life stress, in particular, has serious consequences for life‐long health and affects cognitive performance, emotional intelligence, and self‐regulation. Because the brain is plastic, social as well as individual behavioral interventions can alter some of these developmental paths, modifying brain function and individual life trajectories—but with increasing difficulty as children become adolescents and adults. Now reflecting the new era of “epigenetics” and a life course perspective, this new view of stress, the brain, and social environments highlights the importance of the social, psychological, and biological sciences working together to elucidate underlying mechanisms both to expand knowledge and help promote a better society. -
The Role of Cultural, Social, and Psychological Factors in Disease and Illness - Scott, Robert A.
Understanding the effects of social, psychological, and cultural processes on the body raises age‐old questions that remain perplexing puzzles still today. Research by biomedical, social, and behavioral scientists on the role played by these factors in causing disease and people's subjective experience of it promises to advance understanding of issues about the connections between mind and body. This essay summarizes findings from relevant areas of research, identifies the most promising lines of inquiry to date, poses questions that remain to be investigated going forward, and concludes with speculation about possible applications of existing and prospective new knowledge in health‐related and other arenas of social practice.