Citation

Meisel MK, Clifton AD, Mackillop J, Goodie AS. Addict. Behav. 2015; 51: 72-79.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United States.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.addbeh.2015.07.009

PMID

26240940

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The current study applied egocentric social network analysis (SNA) to investigate the prevalence of addictive behavior and co-occurring substance use in college students' networks. Specifically, we examined individuals' perceptions of the frequency of network members' co-occurring addictive behavior and investigated whether co-occurring addictive behavior is spread evenly throughout networks or is more localized in clusters. We also examined differences in network composition between individuals with varying levels of alcohol use.

METHOD: The study utilized an egocentric SNA approach in which respondents ("egos") enumerated 30 of their closest friends, family members, co-workers, and significant others ("alters") and the relations among alters listed. Participants were 281 undergraduates at a large university in the Southeastern United States.

RESULTS: Robust associations were observed among the frequencies of gambling, smoking, drinking, and using marijuana by network members. We also found that alters tended to cluster together into two distinct groups: one cluster moderate-to-high on co-occurring addictive behavior and the other low on co-occurring addictive behavior. Lastly, significant differences were present when examining egos' perceptions of alters' substance use between the networks of at-risk, light, and nondrinkers.

CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide empirical evidence of distinct clustering of addictive behavior among young adults and suggest the promise of social network-based interventions for this cohort.

Language: en