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A NATIONAL STUDY OF SOCIAL NETWORKS AND PERCEPTIONS OF HEALTH AMONG URBAN AMERICAN INDIAN/ALASKA NATIVES AND NON-HISPANIC WHITES

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2013

DEBORAH R. BASSETT*
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA Native Elder Research Center, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO, USA Department of Communication, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
LONNIE NELSON
Affiliation:
Native Elder Research Center, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO, USA Department of Health Services, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
DOROTHY A. RHOADES
Affiliation:
Native Elder Research Center, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO, USA Department of Medicine, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA
ELIZABETH M. KRANTZ
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
ADAM OMIDPANAH
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
*
1Corresponding author. Email: dbassett@uw.edu

Summary

Using data from The National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, the strength of social networks and the association of self-reported health among American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) and non-Hispanic Whites (NHW) were compared. Differences in social network–health relationships between AI/ANs and NHWs were also examined. For both groups, those with fewer network members were more likely to report fair or poor health than those with average or more network members, and persons with the fewest types of relationships had worse self-reported health than those with the average or very diverse types of relationships. Furthermore, small social networks were associated with much worse self-reported health in AI/ANs than in NHWs.

Type
Short Report
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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