Spreading of healthy mood in adolescent social networks.
Depression is a major public health concern worldwide. There is evidence that social support and befriending influence mental health, and an improved understanding of the social processes that drive depression has the potential to bring significant public health benefits. We investigate transmission of mood on a social network of adolescents, allowing flexibility in our model by making no prior assumption as to whether it is low mood or healthy mood that spreads. Here, we show that while depression does not spread, healthy mood among friends is associated with significantly reduced risk of developing and increased chance of recovering from depression. We found that this spreading of healthy mood can be captured using a non-linear complex contagion model. Having sufficient friends with healthy mood can halve the probability of developing, or double the probability of recovering from, depression over a 6-12-month period on an adolescent social network. Our results suggest that promotion of friendship between adolescents can reduce both incidence and prevalence of depression.
Centre for Complexity Science and Warwick Infectious Disease Epidemiology Research Centre, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK edward.hill@warwick.ac.uk.
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Hill
Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK.
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Griffiths
Centre for Complexity Science and Warwick Infectious Disease Epidemiology Research Centre, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK School of Mathematics, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK.
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House
D000293:Adolescent; D000339:Affect; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D012944:Social Support
depression; emotional contagion; social contagion