Social network structure is predictive of health and wellness.
Social networks influence health-related behavior, such as obesity and smoking. While researchers have studied social networks as a driver for diffusion of influences and behavior, it is less understood how the structure or topology of the network, in itself, impacts an individual's health beha...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2019-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0217264 |
| _version_ | 1818444244992393216 |
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| author | Suwen Lin Louis Faust Pablo Robles-Granda Tomasz Kajdanowicz Nitesh V Chawla |
| author_facet | Suwen Lin Louis Faust Pablo Robles-Granda Tomasz Kajdanowicz Nitesh V Chawla |
| author_sort | Suwen Lin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Social networks influence health-related behavior, such as obesity and smoking. While researchers have studied social networks as a driver for diffusion of influences and behavior, it is less understood how the structure or topology of the network, in itself, impacts an individual's health behavior and wellness state. In this paper, we investigate whether the structure or topology of a social network offers additional insight and predictability on an individual's health and wellness. We develop a method called the Network-Driven health predictor (NetCARE) that leverages features representative of social network structure. Using a large longitudinal data set of students enrolled in the NetHealth study at the University of Notre Dame, we show that the NetCARE method improves the overall prediction performance over the baseline models-that use demographics and physical attributes-by 38%, 65%, 55%, and 54% for the wellness states-stress, happiness, positive attitude, and self-assessed health-considered in this paper. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T19:12:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-db5d99de2e764ee599fe5019bf6cffb4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T19:12:52Z |
| publishDate | 2019-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-db5d99de2e764ee599fe5019bf6cffb42022-12-21T22:50:40ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032019-01-01146e021726410.1371/journal.pone.0217264Social network structure is predictive of health and wellness.Suwen LinLouis FaustPablo Robles-GrandaTomasz KajdanowiczNitesh V ChawlaSocial networks influence health-related behavior, such as obesity and smoking. While researchers have studied social networks as a driver for diffusion of influences and behavior, it is less understood how the structure or topology of the network, in itself, impacts an individual's health behavior and wellness state. In this paper, we investigate whether the structure or topology of a social network offers additional insight and predictability on an individual's health and wellness. We develop a method called the Network-Driven health predictor (NetCARE) that leverages features representative of social network structure. Using a large longitudinal data set of students enrolled in the NetHealth study at the University of Notre Dame, we show that the NetCARE method improves the overall prediction performance over the baseline models-that use demographics and physical attributes-by 38%, 65%, 55%, and 54% for the wellness states-stress, happiness, positive attitude, and self-assessed health-considered in this paper.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0217264 |
| spellingShingle | Suwen Lin Louis Faust Pablo Robles-Granda Tomasz Kajdanowicz Nitesh V Chawla Social network structure is predictive of health and wellness. PLoS ONE |
| title | Social network structure is predictive of health and wellness. |
| title_full | Social network structure is predictive of health and wellness. |
| title_fullStr | Social network structure is predictive of health and wellness. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Social network structure is predictive of health and wellness. |
| title_short | Social network structure is predictive of health and wellness. |
| title_sort | social network structure is predictive of health and wellness |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0217264 |
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