Dados Bibliográficos

AUTOR(ES) Nicholas A. Christakis , Kevin P. Smith
AFILIAÇÃO(ÕES) Department of Sociology, Harvard University; Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115;, Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115
ANO 2008
TIPO Artigo
PERIÓDICO Annual Review of Sociology
ISSN 0360-0572
E-ISSN 1545-2115
EDITORA Publisher 15279
DOI 10.1146/annurev.soc.34.040507.134601
CITAÇÕES 112
ADICIONADO EM 2025-08-18
MD5 3b71776073c2e22fbe05120597600180

Resumo

People are interconnected, and so their health is interconnected. In recognition of this social fact, there has been growing conceptual and empirical attention over the past decade to the impact of social networks on health. This article reviews prominent findings from this literature. After drawing a distinction between social network studies and social support studies, we explore current research on dyadic and supradyadic network influences on health, highlighting findings from both egocentric and sociocentric analyses. We then discuss the policy implications of this body of work, as well as future research directions. We conclude that the existence of social networks means that people's health is interdependent and that health and health care can transcend the individual in ways that patients, doctors, policy makers, and researchers should care about.

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