Social Networks and Health Inequalities

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-vi

   PDF

2. Social Networks and Health Inequalities: A New Perspective for Research

   • Andreas Klärner, Markus Gamper, Sylvia Keim-Klärner, Holger von der Lippe, Irene Moor, Matthias Richter et al.

   Pages 1-22Open Access

3. Social Relations, Social Capital, and Social Networks: A Conceptual Classification

   • Nico Vonneilich

   Pages 23-34Open Access

4. Social Network Theories: An Overview

   • Markus Gamper

   Pages 35-48Open Access

5. Social Network Mechanisms

   • Andreas Klärner, Holger von der Lippe

   Pages 49-65Open Access

6. Negative Ties and Inequalities in Health

   • Philip Adebahr

   Pages 67-85Open Access

7. Network Analysis and Health Inequalities: A Methodological Introduction

   • Markus Gamper

   Pages 87-107Open Access

8. Social Networks, Family Social Capital, and Child Health

   • Daniel Lois

   Pages 109-128Open Access

9. Social Networks, Health, and Health Inequalities in Youth

   • Irene Moor, Laura Hoffmann, Martin Mlinarić, Matthias Richter

   Pages 129-151Open Access

10. Social Networks and Health Inequalities in Young and Middle Adulthood

    • Holger von der Lippe, Olaf Reis

    Pages 153-179Open Access

11. Social Networks and Health Inequalities in Old Age

    • Britta Müller, Lea Ellwardt

    Pages 181-202Open Access

12. Social Status, Social Relations, and Health

    • Nico Vonneilich

    Pages 203-213Open Access

13. Unemployment, Social Networks, and Health Inequalities

    • Gerhard Krug, Stefan Brandt, Markus Gamper, André Knabe, Andreas Klärner

    Pages 215-229Open Access

14. Social Networks and the Health of Single Parents

    • Sylvia Keim-Klärner

    Pages 231-244Open Access

15. Gender and Health Inequalities: Social Networks in the Context of Health and Health Behavior

    • Markus Gamper, Julia Seidel, Annett Kupfer, Sylvia Keim-Klärner, Andreas Klärner

    Pages 245-272Open Access

16. Social Networks and Disability: Access to and Stabilization of Integration into the Primary Labor Market

    • Stefan Zapfel, Nancy Reims, Mathilde Niehaus

    Pages 273-290Open Access

17. Migration as a Health Inequality Dimension? Natio-Ethno-Cultural Affiliation, Health, and Social Networks

    • Markus Gamper, Annett Kupfer

    Pages 291-324Open Access

18. Desiderata: Social Networks and Health Inequalities: Which Questions Remain Open?

    • Olaf Reis, Philip Adebahr, Stefan Brandt, Lea Ellwardt, Markus Gamper, Laura Hoffmann et al.

    Pages 325-343Open Access

This open access book applies insights from the network perspective in health research to explain the reproduction of health inequalities. It discusses the extant literature in this field that strongly correlates differences in social status with health behaviours and outcomes, and add to this literature by providing a coherent theoretical explanation for the causes of these health inequalities. It also shows that much research is needed on the precise factors and the social and socio-psychological mechanisms that are at play in creating and cementing social inequalities in health behaviours. While social support and social relations have received considerable attention within social and behavioural science research on health inequalities, this book considers the whole network of interpersonal relations, structures and influence mechanisms. This is the perspective of the social network analytical approach which has recently gained much attention in health research. The chapters of this book cover state-of-the-art research, open research questions, and perspectives for future research. The book provides network analyses on health inequalities from the perspective of sociology, psychology, and public health and is of interest to a wide range of scholars, students and practitioners trying to understand how health inequalities are reproduced across generations.

• Open Access
• Social Networks
• Health Inequalities
• Social Inequalities in Health
• Social Determinants of Health
• Social Network Analysis
• Social Capital
• Social Support
• Health Sociology
• Health Psychology
• Social Status

• Thünen Institute of Rural Studies, Braunschweig, Germany

  Andreas Klärner, Sylvia Keim-Klärner

• Department of Cultural and Educational Sociology at the Department of Education and Social Sciences of the Faculty of Human Sciences, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

  Markus Gamper

• Institute of Medical Sociology (IMS), Medical Faculty, Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany

  Irene Moor

• Department of Psychology, Medical School Berlin – School of Health & Medicine, Berlin, Germany

  Holger von der Lippe

• Institute of Medical Sociology, Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

  Nico Vonneilich

Andreas Klärner (PD Dr.) is Senior Researcher at the Thünen Institute of Rural Studies in Brunswick, Germany and also teaches at the University of Rostock, Germany. His research interests are social and health inequalities, rural poverty, and mixed-methods social network research. He is currently speaker of the standing group ‘Sociological Network Research’ in the German Sociological Association.

Markus Gamper (PD Dr.) is Assistant Professor at Department of Education and Social Sciences, University of Cologne. His research interests are social network analysis, sociology of migration and religion, social inequality, and the sociology of youth. He is the inventor and developer of the VennMaker software for visual-communicative analysis of social relationships and social networks.

Sylvia Keim-Klärner (Dr.) is Senior Researcher at the Thünen Institute of Rural Studies in Brunswick, Germany. Her research interests are in the areas of family research, social inequality, social networks, qualitative and mixed methods. From 2014 to 2018 she was speaker of the standing group ‘Sociological Network Research’ in the German Sociological Association.

Irene Moor (Dr.) is Research Associate at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Institute of Medical Sociology. Her research interests are in the areas of health and health inequalities in childhood and adolescence, school-survey methods and (school) health promotion. She is the deputy PI of the Health Beaviour in School-aged Children Study (HBSC) in Germany.

Holger von der Lippe (Prof. Dr.) is Full Professor of Developmental and Family Psychology at the MSB Medical School Berlin. His research interests are in the area of family psychology, social network analysis, systemic psychotherapy and mixed methods approaches in psychological inquiry. He is speaker of the standing group ‘Social Networks and Health’ in the German Society for Network Research (DGNet).

Nico Vonneilich (Dr.) is a Senior Researcher at the Institute of Medical Sociology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany. His research interests are in the area of health inequalities, social relations and health, social-epidemiology, and public health. He is speaker of the standing group ‘Health Sociology and Medical Sociology’ in the German Society for Medical Sociology (DGMS).