Social Network Typology and Serious Psychological Distress: Findings from the National Survey of American Life

ABSTRACT

This study examined the association between social network typology and serious psychological distress (SPD) across various adult developmental stages among African Americans. The sample for this study was drawn from the National Survey for American Life (N = 2,991). Network typology was identified using positive and negative family and church relationship indicators. Latent class distal outcome modeling was used to identify network typology and determine the association between network types and SPD. The findings indicate that network types and SPD were unassociated among respondents in the early adulthood group. In the middle and late adulthood group, respondents in the ambivalent and strained network types had higher SPD scores than respondents in the optimal type. Specific to the late adulthood group, respondents in the family-centered type had higher SPD scores than respondents in the optimal type. The findings are discussed in relation to prior research and practice implications.

KEYWORDS:

• Black family
• psychological distress
• social networks
• religion
• informal social support
• social network typology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.