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Who would ask whom for health advice? The structural anatomy of health advice networks among middle-aged and older adults
Title / Series / Name
Network Science
Publication Volume
13
Publication Issue
Pages
Authors
Editors
Keywords
ERGM
Health advice
health
older adults
perceived social support
whole networks
Social Psychology
Communication
Sociology and Political Science
Health advice
health
older adults
perceived social support
whole networks
Social Psychology
Communication
Sociology and Political Science
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14018/28668
Abstract
Social relationships provide opportunities to exchange and obtain health advice. Not only close confidants may be perceived as sources of health advice, but also acquaintances met in places outside a closed circle of family and friends, e.g., in voluntary organizations. This study is the first to analyze the structure of complete health advice networks in three voluntary organizations and compare them with more commonly studied close relationships. To this end, we collected data on multiple networks and health outcomes among 143 middle-aged and older adults (mean age = 53.9 years) in three carnival clubs in Germany. Our analyses demonstrate that perceived health advice and close relationships overlap only by 34%. Moreover, recent advances in exponential random graph models (ERGMs) allow us to illustrate that the network structure of perceived health advice differs starkly from that of close relationships. For instance, we found that advice networks exhibited lower transitivity and greater segregation by gender and age in comparison to networks of close relationships. We also found that actors with poor physical health perceive less individuals as health advisors than those with good physical health. Our findings suggest that community settings, such as voluntary associations, provide a unique platform for exchanging health advice and information among both close and distant network members.
Topic
Publisher
Place of Publication
Type
Journal article
Date
2025-10-24
Language
ISBN
Identifiers
10.1017/nws.2025.10008