You have full access to this open access chapter. In this chapter we deal with the health and inequality aspects of networks from a psychological and sociological life span perspective. In doing so, we pay attention to the mutual interactions between health, social inequality, and networks in the context of biographical transitions that decisively shape the life course of adults. We focus exclusively on young and middle adulthoodβhere roughly defined as the age span between 20 and 60 years.
We introduce the disciplinary perspectives and paradigms that deal with the topic of networks and health inequalities in different phases of life. We present theories that describe interactions between these concepts, and we summarize the state of research on the relationships between social and health inequalities, networks and health, and inequalities, networks, and health.
We conclude with a summary and some desiderata for future research. You have full access to this open access chapter, Download chapter PDF.
There are likely to exist relevant interconnections between social and health inequalities, biographical transitions, social networks, and health behavior in the life course of young and middle-aged adults.
Many of these correlations have not yet been sufficiently researched. Exemplary studies on the health significance of social networks in different biographical transitions in young and middle adulthood such as couple formation, divorce, leaving of adult children are presented. According to current research, a statistical mediation effect of social networks on the impact of social inequalities on health is most likely.
