Using Social Networks to Understand and Prevent Substance Use: A Transdisciplinary Perspective

Abstract

We review findings from research on smoking, alcohol, and other drug use, which show that the network approach is instructive for understanding social influences on substance use. A hypothetical network is used throughout to illustrate different network findings and provide a short glossary of terms. We then describe how network analysis can be used to design more effective prevention programs and to monitor and evaluate these programs. The article closes with a discussion of the inherent transdisciplinarity of social network analysis.

• Contextual factors
• Social networks
• Social network analysis
• Peer influence

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Thomas W. Valente

Thomas W. Valente is an Associate Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, and Director of the Master of Public Health Program at the University of Southern California. He received his Ph.D. in Communication from the Annenberg School for Communication at USC in 1991 and then spent nine years at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is author of Evaluating Health Promotion Programs (2002, Oxford University Press); Network Models of the Diffusion of Innovations (1995, Hampton Press); and over 50 articles and chapters on public health, social networks, behavior change, and program evaluation. Valente uses social network analysis, health communication, and mathematical models to implement and evaluate health promotion programs, primarily aimed at preventing substance abuse, tobacco use, unwanted pregnancies, and STD/HIV infections.

Peggy Gallaher

Peggy E. Gallaher, Ph.D., is a Research Associate in Preventive Medicine at the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine. Her research interests include adapting psychosocial measures written for adults for use by children, defining and assessing acculturation and ethnic identity, and establishing the cultural equivalence of psychological tests. She received her doctorate in Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin in 1988 and a Master's degree in Biostatistics from Columbia University in 1994.

Michele Mouttapa

Michele Mouttapa, Ph.D., received her Ph.D. in Health Behavior Research at the Institute for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research at the University of Southern California. Her research interests include examining the effects of sociocultural influences on adolescent smoking. In addition, she is examining the influence of individualism and collectivism on numerous mediators related to health outcomes, including peer susceptibility and family values. Mouttapa received her M.A. in Psychology (with an emphasis in social-cognitive psychology) from California State University, Fullerton in 1999.