Short-term and long-term effects of a social network intervention on friendships among university students.
Journal
Scientific reports
ISSN: 2045-2322
Titre abrégé: Sci Rep
Pays: England
ID NLM: 101563288
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
19 02 2020
19 02 2020
Historique:
received:
13
05
2019
accepted:
30
01
2020
entrez:
21
2
2020
pubmed:
23
2
2020
medline:
13
11
2020
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
Informal social relations, such as friendships, are crucial for the well-being and success of students at all levels of education. Network interventions can aim at providing contact opportunities in school settings to prevent the social isolation of individuals and facilitate integration between otherwise segregated social groups. We investigate the short-term and long-term effects of one specific network intervention in an undergraduate cohort freshly admitted to an engineering department ([Formula: see text]). In this intervention, we randomly assigned students into small groups at an introduction event two months prior to their first day at university. The groups were designed to increase mixed-gender contact opportunities. Two months after the intervention, we find a higher rate of friendships, common friends, and mixed-gender friendships in pairs of students who were assigned to the same group than in pairs from different groups (short-term effects). These effects gradually diminish over the first academic year (long-term effects). Using stochastic actor-oriented models, we investigate the long-term trajectory of the intervention effects, while considering alternative network processes, such as reciprocity, transitivity, homophily, and popularity. The results suggest that even though the induced friendship ties are less stable than other friendships, they may serve as early seeds for complex social network processes. Our study shows that simple network interventions can have a pronounced short-term effect and indirect long-term effects on the evolution and structure of student communities.
Identifiants
pubmed: 32076003
doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-59594-z
pii: 10.1038/s41598-020-59594-z
pmc: PMC7031228
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
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