ArticleSocial science & medicine (1982)2015
Social network bridging potential and the use of complementary and alternative medicine in later life.
Article in Social science & medicine (1982), 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 48 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Life Course Perspective on Cognitive Aging: The Interplay between Early and Later Life Stimulating Environments.Journal of health and social behavior · 2026Article
- COVID-19, Anti-Asian Discrimination and Stress: Impacts and Mental Health Needs by Age.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2026Article
- CrossFitJournal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2025Article
- Associations between structural holes in personal networks and health behaviors among young and middle-aged adults in Japan: a population-based cross-sectional study.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- A bridge too far? Social network structure as a determinant of depression in later life.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2024Article
- Working with patients' treatment expectations - what we can learn from homeopathy.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Review
- Social Isolation and Worsening Health Behaviors Among Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2023Article
- Chronic Illness and Social Network Bridging in Later Life.Social networks · 2023Article
- An Analysis of Factors Shaping Vaccine Attitudes and Behaviours in a Low-Trust Society Based on Structural Equation Modelling-The Case of Poland's Vaccination Programme against COVID-19.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Personal Network Bridging Potential Across Geographic Context.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2022Article
- A latent variable approach to measuring bridging social capital and examining its association to older adults' cognitive health.Social neuroscience · 2021Article
- Attitude of Medical Students and Doctors towards Complementary, Alternative and Integrative Medicine: A Single-Center, Questionnaire-Based Study.Journal of pharmacopuncture · 2021Article
- Prevalence and correlates of complementary and alternative medicine use among diabetic patients in a resource-limited setting.Metabolism open · 2021Article
- Do Older Adults with HIV Have Distinctive Personal Networks? Stigma, Network Activation, and the Role of Disclosure in South Africa.AIDS and behavior · 2021Article
- Is having an educationally diverse social network good for health?Network science (Cambridge University Press) · 2020Article
- Towards bridging the grey digital divide: changes in internet access and its predictors from 2002 to 2014 in Germany.European journal of ageing · 2020Article
- Complementary and alternative medicine use among patients with type 2 diabetes living in the United Arab Emirates.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2020Article
- Belief in and use of traditional Chinese medicine in Shanghai older adults: a cross-sectional study.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2020Article
- Characterizing Websites That Provide Information About Complementary and Integrative Health: Systematic Search and Evaluation of Five Domains.Interactive journal of medical research · 2018Article
- Predicting adherence to acupuncture appointments for low back pain: a prospective observational study.BMC complementary and alternative medicine · 2017Observational
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The use of complementary/alternative medicine (CAM) is typically modeled as a function of individual health beliefs, including changes in perceptions of conventional medicine, an orientation toward more holistic care, and increasing patient involvement in health care decision-making. Expanding on research that shows that health-related behavior is shaped by social networks, this paper examines the possibility that CAM usage is partly a function of individuals' social network structure. We argue that people are more likely to adopt CAM when they function as bridges between network members who are otherwise not (or poorly) connected to each other. This circumstance not only provides individuals with access to a wider range of information about treatment options, it also reduces the risk of sanctioning by network members if one deviates from conventional forms of treatment. We test this idea using data from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP), a nationally representative study of older Americans. Analyses of egocentric social network data show that older adults with bridging potential in their networks are significantly more likely to engage in a greater number of types of CAM. We close by discussing alternative explanations of these findings and their potential implications for research on CAM usage.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.