Social Network Characteristics and Body Mass Index in an Elderly Korean Population

Lee, Won Joon; Youm, Yoosik; Rhee, Yumie; Park, Yeong-Ran; Chu, Sang Hui; Kim, Hyeon Chang

The study of the effects of social networks on health rose to the surface in the 1970s through pioneers such as Cassel, Cobb, pISSN 1975 -8375 eISSN 2233 and Berkman, who theorized or proved empirically that social networks could affect mortality [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] . After those mortality studies, several studies have reported that social networks are related to infectious diseases, such as sexually transmitted disease [7] [8] [9] , tuberculosis [10] , severe acute respiratory syndrome [11] , and pneumonia [12] . Additionally, evidence suggests that emotions and related behaviors such as depression [13] , suicide [14] , and happiness [15] are also associated with social networks. Social networks affect health through several mechanisms, including the provision of social support (both perceived and actual), social influence (e.g., norms, social control), social engagement, person-to-person contact (e.g., pathogen exposure, secondhand cigarette smoke), and access to resourc-es (e.g., money, jobs, information) [16] .