Discipline: Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences
Subcategory: Social Sciences/Psychology/Economics
Session: 3
Room: Exhibit Hall A
Saki Nakai - Oregon State University
Co-Author(s): Patrick Habecker, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, NE; Kirk Dombrowski, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, NE
The purpose of this study is to investigate reciprocal and non-reciprocal support in an Inuit community in Labrador, Canada using social network analysis. The Inuit experience high rates of domestic violence, alcohol abuse, food insecurity, and loss of culture, so it is crucial to investigate the directionality of helping networks to understand the people who are most influential. Reciprocity is defined as a mix of indegree and outdegree for an individual, and non-reciprocity is defined in two extremes –outdegree only or indegree only. Social support is categorized into four subtypes – emotional, alcohol co-use, instrumental, and informational – to create four aggregate helping networks. The hypothesis is that people with specific structural attributes (degree centrality, k-core) and individual attributes (gender, ethnicity, age, income, working status, subsistence factor) are more likely to be in a reciprocal network position than a non-reciprocal network position across the four social support subtypes due to (1) the theory-based evidence of the advantages of returning, or “reciprocating” and (2) the cultural characteristics of marginalized communities, which are known for their high levels of social influence and social obligation. Data was collected in 2010 through respondent-driven sampling by interviewing 794 members. A multinomial logistic regression is conducted to compare reciprocal, non-reciprocal (outdegree only), and non-reciprocal (indegree only) support for individual and structural attributes for each social support subtype. The results show that structural attributes (higher degree and higher k-core) are significantly associated with higher odds of holding reciprocal positions compared to non-reciprocal positions across all four support subtypes. However, there are no consistent associations between individual attributes and reciprocal positions. The closest is having access to a boat, cabin, or skidoo (subsistence factors), which is often associated with higher odds of holding a reciprocal position compared to a non-reciprocal position. This may be due to the unequal distribution of these resources, as supported in the literature. These findings indicate the importance of the cultural context and the existence of both reciprocal and non-reciprocal support to maintain social harmony. Future research may focus on analyzing brokerage roles for individuals in the reciprocal position to analyze the characteristics of the mediator. References: Antonucci, T. C., & Jackson, S. J. (1990). The role of reciprocity in social support. In B. R. Sarason, I. G. Sarason, & G. R. Pierce (Eds.), Wiley series on personality processes. Social support: An interactional view (pp. 173-198). Oxford, England: John Wiley & Sons. Richmond, C. A. M., & Ross, N. A. (2008). Social support, material circumstance and health behaviour: Influences on health in First Nation and Inuit communities of Canada. Social Science & Medicine, 67(9), 1423–1433. References: Antonucci, T. C., & Jackson, S. J. (1990). The role of reciprocity in social support. In B. R. Sarason, I. G. Sarason, & G. R. Pierce (Eds.),?Wiley series on personality processes. Social support: An interactional view?(pp. 173-198). Oxford, England: John Wiley & Sons. Richmond, C. A. M., & Ross, N. A. (2008). Social support, material circumstance and health behaviour: Influences on health in First Nation and Inuit communities of Canada. Social Science & Medicine, 67(9), 1423-1433.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): I thank Kim Gocchi Carrasco, Patrick Habecker, Kirk Dombrowski, and the 2019 MHDI REU cohort for supporting me throughout this project. This research was supported in part by NSF Grant SMA 1757739 ?NSF REU Site: Social Network Analysis for Solving Minority Health Disparities? (PI: K Dombrowski, University of Nebraska-Lincoln).
Faculty Advisor: Kirk Dombrowski, kdombrowski2@unl.edu
Role: I conducted the literature review, developed the hypothesis, and conducted the statistical analyses. I created the four aggregate helping networks and computed the structural attributes of each network using a program called Pajek. I then analyzed both the structural and individual attributes by using a multinomial logistic regression in SPSS.