Negative Effects of Social Networks on Individual Responses to Heat Waves
Traditional research focusing on the relationship between social capital and health has generally indicated that these two variables are positively correlated. That is, belonging to a strong social network contributes to good health. However, in recent years research has served to identify instances where social networks have the potential to negatively affect health. One such study that has been discussed in previous posts is that of Dr. Nicholas Christakis, who in 2007 found that obesity can be spread through social ties. More recently, a study published in the Journal of Global Environmental Change found that social capital, particularly bonding social capital, can actually increase the vulnerability of elderly individuals to the effects of heat waves.
In the study, researchers interviewed 65 individuals over the age of 75 along with 40 of their close social contacts, who were identified by the elderly individuals as people to whom they would turn for assistance or advice. Results indicated that the elderly interviewees did not generally consider themselves at risk from the effects of extreme heat. Ironically, most respondents did acknowledge that older persons are more vulnerable but excluded themselves from that group, considering people even more aged or individuals with chronic health problems to comprise the vulnerable “older” category. When asked how they would cope with higher temperatures, several respondents indicated that they felt nothing could be done and the heat simply had to be tolerated, while others provided examples of reactive strategies aimed at cooling down after they were already hot (such as taking a cold shower or using a fan) rather than strategies to prevent heat stress in the first place. Individuals also stressed their independence and the idea that reacting to warm temperatures was simply a matter of common sense, and that they therefore did not require and would not ask for help from others during a heat wave.
When the close social contacts of these individuals were interviewed, they expressed similar beliefs: heat only constituted a risk to the elderly if they were seriously ill or disabled, elderly people are sensible and do not need to be told how to behave during periods of extreme heat, sometimes the heat must just be endured, and the independence of older individuals should not be challenged.
All in all, the beliefs held by the elderly interviewees and their social contacts served to strengthen and perpetuate narratives of “independence, capability and common sense coping strategies” that discouraged elderly interviewees from taking preventative measures. Because individuals over the age of 75 are at a significantly greater risk to experience the negative effects of heat and have much higher mortality rates during heat waves, these narratives have the ability to negatively impact the health of this group.
This article draws attention to the different types of social capital that exist within network structures and highlights the importance of weak ties. The relationships between the elderly interviewees and their social contacts in this study are an example of bonding social capital, or links between individuals who are members of a tightly-knit group. The people to whom the elderly would turn for advice were spouses, children, grandchildren, siblings, neighbors, and friends. This bonding social capital contrasts to bridging social capital, which occurs when there are links between distinct social groups. Early on in the semester, we discussed Granovetter’s concept of the “strength of weak ties,” which was developed to account for the fact that people often learn about job opportunities through acquaintances rather than good friends. Members of a close-knit group have access to more or less the same information, whereas links between different groups permit the flow of new information into different portions of the network.
This phenomenon is clearly at work in this study. The elderly individuals and their social contacts that were interviewed had common and relatively limited knowledge of the risk posed by heat waves. This served to reinforce misconceptions and exacerbate the vulnerability of the elderly interviewees. However, it is conceivable that if these individuals had stronger links to people outside their close social circle, their misconceptions could be challenged and perhaps rectified. That is, bridging social capital could potentially counteract the negative impact of bonding social capital. This is in fact what the authors of the article postulate, saying “Bridging ties to distinct groups, with different values and perspectives… could perhaps challenge the views perpetuated by bonding social networks.” Weak ties to others outside of our group expose us to information we may not otherwise have, whether it is knowledge of a job opportunity or knowledge of the dangers of high heat. Clearly, more research is needed to identify the roles that different forms of social capital play in contributing to individual and aggregate health. There is “a complex rather than uniformly positive relationship between social capital, health, and adaptation to climate change.”
The abstract of this article can be accessed at the website below. Members of the Cornell community can view the entire text through the Cornell University library system.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959378009000752