Social Networks (Supports) and Health

A substantial body of research has examined the relationship between health, encompassing both mental and physical dimensions, and various forms of social connectedness, including social support, social networks, and social capital. While this tradition has generated invaluable insights, much of the existing literature has tended to treat these relationships as relatively straightforward and linear, and has relied predominantly on self-reported measures of both health and social structure.

This session welcomes submissions across the full spectrum of sociological research on health and social connectedness, from theoretically grounded conceptual contributions to empirically driven studies using a wide range of methodological approaches. We encourage scholars at all career stages to submit work that engages with this tradition in any form.

Studies representing newer directions in the field are also warmly encouraged, particularly those pursuing three lines of inquiry. First, studies attending to the complex, non-linear, and potentially bidirectional causal relationships between health outcomes and social structure, whether measured through social networks, social support, social capital, or related constructs. Second, submissions that incorporate biological and physiological data, including genetic data, neuroimaging, inflammatory biomarkers, and direct measures such as blood pressure, bridging sociological and biomedical approaches to health. Third, work that advances the measurement of social connectedness itself, through innovative operationalizations of social networks, social support, or collective efficacy, with attention to methodological rigor and construct validity.

We warmly invite any scholarship examining the dynamic relationships between social connectedness and health in its many forms to be part of this conversation.