Using a computational cognitive model to simulate the effects of personal and social network experiences on seasonal influenza vaccination decisions.

Introduction: Seasonal influenza poses significant societal costs, including illness, mortality, and reduced work productivity. Vaccination remains the most effective strategy for preventing the disease, yet vaccination rates in the United States fall below 50% for adults. Understanding the factors influencing vaccination decisions is crucial for designing interventions to improve uptake.

Motivational Network Intervention to Reduce Substance Use and Increase Supportive Connections for Emerging Adults in a Supportive Housing Program.

Background: For transition-aged youth experiencing homelessness (TAYEH) moving to transitional housing, a motivational network intervention (MNI) may help modify high-risk networks, thereby reducing substance use and strengthening prosocial connections.

Methods: Thirty-six TAYEH received a four-session MNI integrated into usual housing case management or usual case management. Intervention acceptability, feasibility, and motivational interviewing fidelity were evaluated.

Voices of Identity: Exploring Identity Development and Transformation among Urban American Indian/Alaska Native Emerging Adults.

Emerging adulthood shapes personal, professional, and overall well-being through identity exploration. This study addresses a gap in the minority identity literature by investigating how urban AI/AN emerging adults think about their identity and discussing challenges and protective factors associated with exploring their identity holistically. This mixed-methods study created a sampling framework based on discrimination experiences, cultural identity, social network support, mental health, and problematic substance use.

Perceived loss of support to community caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) had a negative impact on the health and well-being of community caregivers. Few studies examine the pandemic's negative impact on the availability of social networks of caregivers. This article uses data collected during COVID-19 before vaccination to examine caregivers' reports of perceived lost and reduced network support.

Typologies of duocentric networks among low-income newlywed couples.

The social networks surrounding intimate couples provide them with bonding and bridging social capital and have been theorized to be associated with their well-being and relationship quality. These networks are multidimensional, featuring compositional (e.g.

The Role of Social Networks on Depression and Anxiety Among a Sample of Urban American Indian/Alaska Native Emerging Adults.

Purpose: Mental health inequalities continue to persist among American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) people. However, few studies have examined the association of social networks and depression and anxiety among urban emerging AI/AN adults.

Methods: This study analyzes the association of social network characteristics with depression and anxiety among a sample of urban AI/AN emerging adults.

Social Networks, Cultural Pride, and Historical Loss Among Non-Reservation American Indian / Alaska Native Emerging Adults.

Health disparities among American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) populations in the United States are the result of historical traumas, such as colonization, forced relocation, and federal policies focused on cultural assimilation. Culturally-tailored health interventions aim to address intergenerational trauma by emphasizing cultural strengths and building positive social connections. In this article, we explore the social network characteristics of participants of the first culturally-tailored health intervention for AI/AN emerging adults (18-25) living outside of tribal lands.

Change in Caregiving to Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Differences by Dementia Status.

We use a nationally representative study of 3451 adults who provided assistance to a relative or friend age 50 or older immediately prior to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic to explore changes to care provisions, use of services, and support networks. While we see turnover in assistance during a retrospectively assessed 12-month time period, respondents exited or adopted caregiving roles primarily for reasons unrelated to the pandemic. About two thirds of caregivers' social networks remained unchanged and, of those that did change, only half lost network members without gaining others.

Lasting Declines in Couples' Social Network Interactions in the First Years of COVID.

Since the onset of COVID-19, a rise in loneliness has raised concerns about the social impact of lockdowns and distancing mandates. Yet, to date, the effects of the pandemic on social networks have been studied only indirectly. To evaluate how the pandemic affected social networks, the current analyses analyzed five waves of detailed social network interviews conducted before and during the first 18 months of the pandemic in a sample especially vulnerable to contracting the virus: mostly non-White couples (243 husbands and 250 wives) recruited from lower income neighborhoods.

Evaluation of approaches to recruitment of racially and ethnically diverse breast cancer patients from an integrated health care setting for collection of observational social network data.

Purpose: We compared approaches to recruitment of diverse women with breast cancer in a study designed to collect complex social network data.

Methods: We recruited 440 women from the Kaiser Permanente Northern California population newly diagnosed with breast cancer, either in person at a clinic, by email, or by mailed letter. In clinic and mail recruitment, women completed a brief 3-page paper survey (epidemiologic data only), and women had the option to complete a separate, longer (30-40 min) personal social network survey online.

Risk and protective factors of social networks on alcohol, cannabis, and opioid use among urban American Indian/Alaska Native emerging adults.

Objectives: Assess associations between social networks and urban American Indian/Alaska Native emerging adults' alcohol, cannabis, and opioid use and intentions.

Method: American Indian/Alaska Native participants ages 18-25 ( = 150; 86% female) were recruited across the United States from 12/20 to 10/21 via social media. Participants named up to 15 people whom they talked with most over the past 3 months and reported who (a) used alcohol and cannabis heavily or used other drugs (e.

Feasibility and acceptability of incorporating social network visualizations into a culturally centered motivational network intervention to prevent substance use among urban Native American emerging adults: a qualitative study.

Background: Coupling social network visualizations with Motivational Interviewing in substance use interventions has been shown to be acceptable and feasible in several pilot tests, and has been associated with changes in participants' substance use and social networks. The objective of this study was to assess acceptability and feasibility of an adaptation of this behavior change approach into a culturally centered behavior change intervention for American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) emerging adults living in urban areas. AI/AN populations experience high rates of health disparities and substance use.

Stability and change in newlyweds' social networks over the first years of marriage.

Marriage sanctifies the relationship between two spouses, but what happens to their relationships with family, friends, and others who comprise their social networks? Scholarly accounts disagree about whether couples' networks strengthen, weaken, or remain stable in the years after marriage. To reconcile competing perspectives, marriage licenses from lower income communities were used to recruit 462 spouses (231 couples) in their first marriages. Each spouse independently provided data on 24 network members with whom they interact regularly (over 11,000 network members).

Cultural Dynamics, Substance Use, and Resilience Among American Indian/Alaska Native Emerging Adults in Urban Areas.

Unlabelled: Identity development during emerging adulthood helps lay down the structure of values, social bonds, and decision-making patterns that help determine adult outcomes, including patterns of substance use. Managing cultural identity may pose unique challenges for American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) emerging adults in "urban" areas (away from tribal lands or reservations), who are relatively isolated from social and cultural connections. This isolation is in turn a product of cultural genocide and oppression, both historically and in the present day.

Feasibility of a computer-assisted social network motivational interviewing intervention to reduce substance use and increase supportive connections among emerging adults transitioning from homelessness to housing.

Background: Social networks may play positive and negative roles in the lives of young adults experiencing homelessness (YEH) who are transitioning into housing. Social networks can influence their alcohol and/or other drug (AOD) use, as well as provide immediate and long-term support necessary for a successful transition.

Methods: We adapted a four-session computer-assisted motivational interviewing social network intervention (MI-SNI) for YEH transitioning into housing.

Reciprocal relationships among influenza experiences, perceptions, and behavior: Results from a national, longitudinal survey of United States adults.

Objective: Our objective was to model the reciprocal relationships of perceived risk of contracting influenza with and without influenza vaccination, vaccination behavior, and reported influenza illness.

Methods: We fit structural equation models to data from a longitudinal survey of adults in the United States collected through the RAND American Life Panel. Data come from fall and spring surveys fielded before and after each of 3 influenza seasons, 2016/2017, 2017/2018, and 2018/2019, for a total of 6 waves.

Restructuring personal networks with a Motivational Interviewing social network intervention to assist the transition out of homelessness: A randomized control pilot study.

Background: Social relationships play a key role in both substance use and homelessness. Transitioning out of homelessness often requires reduction in substance use as well as changes in social networks. A social network-based behavior change intervention that targets changes personal social networks may assist the transition out of homelessness.

Integrating traditional practices and social network visualization to prevent substance use: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial among urban Native American emerging adults.

Background: Nonmedical use of prescription opioids (defined as taking opioid medications for hedonic effects or in a manner other than prescribed) and the use of heroin have emerged in recent years as major public health concerns in the United States. Of particular concern is the prevalence of opioid use among emerging adults (ages 18-25), as this is a developmental period of heightened vulnerability and critical social, neurological, and psychological development. Data from 2015 show that American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) people have the highest rates of diagnosis for opioid use disorders (OUDs).

Longitudinal effects of social network changes on drinking outcomes for individuals with a first-time DUI.

Background: Social networks are important predictors of alcohol-related outcomes, especially among those with a DUI where riskier social networks are associated with increased risk of drinking and driving. Social networks are increasingly a target for intervention; however, no studies have examined and measured whether longitudinal changes in social networks are associated with reductions in impaired driving.

Objective: The current study first examines longitudinal changes in social networks among participants receiving services following a first-time DUI, and then examines the association between network change and drinking outcomes at 4- and 10-month follow-up.

Couples' Diminished Social and Financial Capital Exacerbate the Association Between Maladaptive Attributions and Relationship Satisfaction.

Background: Theoretical and clinical perspectives argue that couples' maladaptive attributions for marital problems lead to marital distress, and that these attributions will detract from couples' relationships regardless of their external circumstances. However, emerging work in cognitive psychology indicates that stress simplifies individuals' information processing, suggesting that the demands faced by couples may strengthen the link between maladaptive attributions and relationship satisfaction.

Methods: With a sample of 462 ethnically diverse newlywed spouses living with low incomes (231 couples, with >30% Black and >50% Latinx), we assessed attributions and relationship satisfaction, along with three hypothesized moderators: couples' financial strain, perceived financial capital within couples' social networks, and the proportion of married couples within couples' social networks.

Motivational network intervention to reduce substance use and increase supportive connections among formerly homeless emerging adults transitioning to housing: study protocol for a pilot randomized controlled trial.

Background: Studies indicate high rates of substance use among youth experiencing homelessness (YEH). Further, the social networks of YEH, although multi-dimensional in composition, are largely comprised of other YEH, substance users, and individuals who do not provide the youth with tangible or emotional support. For YEH who have the opportunity to enter a housing program, helping them to reduce their substance use and strengthen their prosocial supportive connections during this critical transition period may increase their stability and reduce their risk of re-entering homelessness.

Typologies of Dementia Caregiver Support Networks: A Pilot Study.

Background And Objectives: There are nearly 18 million family caregivers in the United States assisting an older adult in need of help. Identifying the caregivers in greatest need of support requires an understanding of the current social support networks available to family caregivers and whether specific groups of caregivers are at risk of having an insufficient support network.

Research Design And Methods: We collected personal network data from a nationally representative sample of 66 family caregivers to persons with dementia (PWDs) in the United States aged 18 and older, including information on network members' support to the caregiver and help to the care recipient.

Social Networks of Clients in First-Time DUI Programs.

Objective: Social networks play an important role in the development of and recovery from problem drinking behaviors; however, few studies have measured the social networks of individuals convicted of driving under the influence (DUI) or assessed the relationship between social network characteristics and risk for DUI relapse and recidivism. The goal of this study is to describe the social network characteristics of a first-time DUI population in the 2 weeks before the DUI incident; examine demographic differences in social network characteristics by age, ethnicity, and gender; and assess the relationship between social network characteristics and risk factors for DUI.

Method: We collected personal (egocentric) social network survey data from 94 participants (65% male) enrolled in a randomized clinical trial comparing the effects of cognitive behavioral therapy with usual care for individuals convicted of a first-time DUI.

The Stability of Influenza Vaccination Behavior Over Time: A Longitudinal Analysis of Individuals Across 8 Years.

Background: Seasonal influenza vaccination is an important behavior with significant individual and public health consequences, yet fewer than half of individuals in the USA are vaccinated annually. To promote vaccination adherence, it is important to understand the factors that affect vaccination behavior.

Purpose: In this research, we focused on one such factor, an individual's vaccination history.