Unintended Tie Decay in Networked Interventions: Testing the Mechanisms of Peer-Avoidance and Self-Withdrawal

• In Event: 3142 - Open Topics on Social Psychology I

Abstract

In this paper I show that networked interventions may have the unintended effect of changing the underlying social networks even if the interventions are originally designed to diffuse information or behaviors only. I first present a framework that depicts some unusual paths between informational or behavioral interventions and network changes and then illustrate the framework through a case study of a smoking prevention intervention involving 4094 middle school students in China. I show that both peer-avoidance and self-withdrawal are at work to produce the network changes. Both friendship ties to and from smokers dropped more significantly in the networked interventions than in the random intervention. I also show that a leading effect instead of a herding effect more significantly explained the peer-avoidance while in return the members being labeled negatively by the intervention more significantly withdrew their interaction to the peer leaders selected to implement the intervention. Overall, the study shows the high malleability of social networks and the importance of studying network outcomes in social interventions as even relatively weak interventions can lead to notable network changes.

Author

• Weihua An, Emory University