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Content-class: urn:content-classes:message
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Thread-Topic: Videocast of 3/20 B&SS Lecture: Person-to-Person Spread of Health
              Behaviors in a Large Social Network
Thread-Index: AciN2L34A6KYiF1bTzqbo1VhuucF1g==
Message-ID:  <[log in to unmask]>
Date:         Mon, 24 Mar 2008 13:59:00 -0400
Reply-To:     "Sampson, Dana (NIH/OD) [E]" <[log in to unmask]>
Sender:       NIH Beh & Soc Sci public events <[log in to unmask]>
From:         "Sampson, Dana (NIH/OD) [E]" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      Videocast of 3/20 B&SS Lecture: Person-to-Person Spread of Health
              Behaviors in a Large Social Network

Were you unable to attend last Thursday's Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Lecture by Nicholas Christakis of Harvard University?  If so, don't fret, a videocast <http://videocast.nih.gov/Summary.asp?File=14379>  of the lecture, Person-to-Person Spread of Health Behaviors in a Large Social Network, is now available for viewing and downloading.

 

Event summary & videocast: http://videocast.nih.gov/Summary.asp?File=14379 

Directly launch videocast: http://videocast.nih.gov/launch.asp?14379

 

 

*Note - This series' remaining lectures will also be videocast and available on the BSSR Lecture Series videocast page at http://videocast.nih.gov/PastEvents.asp?c=82.  The videocasts are open to the general public and will be archive only, meaning the videocasts will be available only after the event concludes.  The videocasts will be posted within one week of the event.

 

 

Abstract:

 

Our work has involved the quantitative investigation of whether and how various health-related phenomena might spread from person to person. For example, we explored the nature and extent of person-to-person spread of obesity. We developed a densely interconnected network of 12,067 people assessed repeatedly from 1971 to 2003. We used longitudinal statistical models and network-scientific methods to examine whether weight gain in one person was associated with weight gain in friends, siblings, spouses, and neighbors. Discernible clusters of obese persons were present in the network at all time points, and the clusters extended three people deep. These clusters were not solely due to selective formation of social ties. A friend becoming obese in a given time interval increased a person's chances of becoming obese by 57% (95% CI: 6%-123%). Among pairs of adult siblings, one becoming obese increased the chance that the other became obese by 40% (21%-60%). Among spouses, one becoming obese increased the likelihood that the other became obese by 37% (7%-73%). Among those working in small firms, a co-worker becoming obese increased a person's chances of becoming obese. Immediate neighbors did not exhibit these effects. We have also conducted similar investigations of other health behaviors, such as smoking, drinking, exercising, and the receipt of health screening, and of other health phenomena, such as happiness and depression. Various aspects of our findings suggest that the spread of social norms may partly underlie inter-personal health effects. Our findings have implications for clinical and public health interventions, and for cost-effectiveness assessments of preventive and therapeutic interventions. They also lay a new foundation for public health by providing a rationale for the claim that health is not just an individual, but also a collective, phenomenon.

 

 


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