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

Node nj and nk represent the adjoined nodes connected to node ni and 'e' represents the number of adjoined nodes connected to ni. If node nj and nk are connected, d(nj, nk) becomes 1 and if not, it becomes 0. After summing and dividing by every possible number of connections between adjoined nodes, this becomes the density of the communication network. each network member on an 8-point scale, ranging from 'everyday' to 'less than once per year' . The scores were coded by assigning the approximate number of times per year egos interacted with alters (e.g., 'everyday'=365; 'once a month'=12) and the scores were summed across all alters on roster A and roster B to obtain a measure of the overall volume of contact with network members. Then, the scores were summed and divided by the network size. The average frequency of communication (or "communication frequency") indicates how often network members communicated. The average frequency of meeting (or "meeting frequency") was likewise calculated to determine how often network members met.