Weathering Life Transitions: Dynamics of Personal Network Structure and Composition

• In Event: Medical Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 7. The Life Course and Health I

Abstract

Dispositions, or habitus, are often assumed to remain stable over time once formed during childhood and adolescence. However, recent research has challenged this claim, showing that life-course transitions are among the moments most likely to disrupt them. If dispositions are reflected in individuals’ network structure and composition, these findings suggest that the often-assumed stability of networks may also be disrupted. At the same time, network research has shown that despite constant network churn, overall structural properties tend to remain stable. While losing ties is associated with negative health outcomes, adding ties generally provides health benefits. Yet the focus on the alter level examining tie losses and additions through the lens of network churn leaves unanswered questions about how ego-network structure evolves after life transitions: whether networks experience a net decrease or increase, how tie configurations change over time, and what the broader structural consequences may be. As a result, the literature does not fully explain how network properties remain stable, whether life transitions reshape network structure, or which individuals are better able to cope with such changes. This paper questions the assumption of structural stability by using data from the UC Berkeley Social Networks Study (UCNets), a three-wave longitudinal study of personal networks collected between 2015 and 2018 at one- to one-and-a-half-year intervals in the San Francisco Bay Area. It examines how life transitions affect network properties such as size, bridging, and composition. It then assesses whether short-term structural personal network changes may have adverse health consequences for certain groups, focusing on differences between natives and migrants.

Author

• Enzo Bessega, University of Chicago