Northwestern Social Networks 101
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Friends quit smoking? You probably will too

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Andrew Kessler
Jacquelyn S Thich
SBonthu
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Friends quit smoking? You probably will too Empty Friends quit smoking? You probably will too

Post  SBonthu Mon May 18, 2009 5:28 pm

While the study was cleverly done, it does have its limitations.

...... it's hard to tease out whether social influence is mainly responsible for a whole group kicking the habit. Other factors such as public bans on smoking or studies highlighting the harmful effects of smoking may also play a role.

"You can't prove it with this data," he said. "You have to go to people and ask, 'Why did you stop smoking?'"

There's no question that the Framingham data are unique. Let's hope that others will realize that to really study public health issues, you must measure the social contexts that the subjects are embedded in.

Let's hope that others will begin the slow process of gathering data on both public health issues and the proper social networks.

Link: http://www.iq.harvard.edu/blog/netgov/2008/05/more_on_the_social_context_of.html


Here are some excerpts from the article:
"...What’s more, smokers tend to quit in groups and those who don’t stop puffing increasingly find themselves pushed to the edge of their social circles, the researchers found."

"When a spouse stops smoking, the other partner is 67 percent less likely to smoke, researchers found. And when a friend quits, the odds of the other continuing drops by 36 percent."

"“Your smoking behavior depends upon not just the smoking behavior of the people you know, but also the people who they know” and so on, said Dr. Nicholas Christakis, a medical sociologist at Harvard Medical School and lead author of the new report.

The findings back up previous studies showing that peer influence plays a key role in people’s decision to stop lighting up and provide evidence that the “buddy system” used by smoking cessation, weight loss and alcoholism programs to change addictive behavior works."

The power of social networks/circles must be further research in order to get a better understanding of the extent to which it can be used effectively!

SBonthu

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Post  Jacquelyn S Thich Sun May 24, 2009 2:09 pm

This is a good example of cohesion coefficients of social neworks. If a smoker's cohesion coefficient is high enough, the value for smoking isn't a good enough incentive to continue. That is, if many people within their network don't smoke or have quit smoking, they are more likely to take the steps needed to overcome their addiction. I don't understand how this study was done, but the facts seems reasonable. I agree that these types of studies must be done really carefully, because there are probably many factors influencing one's decision to stop smoking.

Jacquelyn S Thich

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Post  Andrew Kessler Sun May 24, 2009 5:59 pm

This study brings up an interesting point... it makes me curious about how addiction fits into the cohesion principle. In this example I guess the relative quality of not smoking to smoking would have to be much larger than normal in order to account for the addiction factor, where you're likely to keep smoking even if no one you know is.

Andrew Kessler

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Post  IanCharles Sun May 24, 2009 10:13 pm

An anecdotal bit of evidence: One of my fraternity brothers is trying to quit smoking, which is proving somewhat difficult due to the fact that he is surrounded by severl others who still smoke. Essentially, whenever he gets a craving, he can easily bum a cigarette of one of the other brothers nearby. Kicking a habit is nearly impossible unless you can distance yourself from the temptation.

In the context of the course, he lives in a cluster where most everybody else is an active smoker. Thus, he benefits (in the short term) by continuing to smoke.

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Post  PK Mon May 25, 2009 12:45 am

It is interesting how substances, especially addictive ones, spread through a social network. I know (from TV shows) that drug-users who are undergoing rehabilitation are supposed to try to cut off contacts with people who live a lifestyle that could have a negative affect on their recovery process. I understand that many substance abusers began by connections in their social network that influenced their behaviors. It seems that a persistent, rather than just an initial, connection can still have a affect on the person. Similarly, with cigarettes I don't think you would see nearly as many people smoking if they were the only ones that they know doing it. Not only would they not have access to bumming one off of a friend, but they would also not be as enticed to smoke if they didn't see it occurring.

PK

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Post  Elif Koru Mon May 25, 2009 12:56 am

Yes, I have made many observations about this phenonem over the past few years as well. I believe that the best example would be to look at individual who have grown up in social circles where smoking is prominent. For example, in Turkey smoking is much more visible on the streets, in High Schools, and other public places. In the states, however, there are significantly fewer smokers. Since many people do not smoke, those around them who would normally be tempted to start smoking do not feel the need to smoke because of a lack of social pressure.
This is an important example of the affect of social networks and its affects on our everyday lives.

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Post  Mark Straccia Mon May 25, 2009 1:22 am

What is interesting about smoking and its diffusion through a network is that the spread of smoking depends more on unspoken peer pressure than compatibility. Though there are some benefits of compatibility of friends smoking such as being able to bum a cigarette or borrow a lighter, the spread is cause more by that fact that if your friends are doing it, you are more likely you will do it. A person might be resistance at the beginning but when they see their friends constantly doing it when they hang out together, they are more likely to join in. This is different from other diffusion through a network like deciding on a computer system because that depends on compatibility while this depends doing similar activities with your friends. However, I do think they way they diffuse through the network is same and therefore they act on the same principles.

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