Weihua An

Session: Morning Scientific Session - Advances in Social Network Analysis
Title: Social Networks and Health: Measurement, Contagion, and Interventions
Abstract: In this talk, I will provide a high-level overview of my research on social networks and health. First, I show how to combine peer-reports and self-reports to provide more accurate measurement of sensitive behaviors. I propose a framework for examining the accuracy of peer-reports and show that weighting peer-reports by peers’ network centrality can lead to more accurate peer-reports that can be used to more effectively correct potentially biased self-reports. Second, I study social contagion in social networks. I identify a list of methodological challenges in doing so and implement a design-based instrumental variable approach that helps to estimate causal peer effects with “validated” instrumental variables. Lastly, I introduce multilevel meta network analysis and apply it to study network dynamics in a social network-based smoking prevention intervention. The findings highlight the importance of examining network outcomes in evaluating health interventions and the potential of using social networks to design more powerful interventions.

Dr. Weihua An is Associate Professor of Sociology & Quantitative Theory and Methods and associated faculty of the East Asian Studies Program, the Goizueta Business School, and the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. He received a Ph.D. in Sociology and an A.M. in Statistics from Harvard University and was a doctoral fellow and a postdoc fellow at Harvard Kennedy School. His research advances theories and methods for network analysis and causal inference with applications to studying inequality and social policy, health, and organizations. Weihua An's website.