Examining Adolescent Social Networks and Dental Utilization in the National Longitudinal AddHealth Study

摘要 青春期是一个口腔疾病经常出现的发育时期， 护理是最常见的未得到满足的卫生保健需求。大约五分之一的美国青少年 他们的恒牙中有未经治疗的龋齿，而且他们使用的牙科服务比 更小的孩子。青春期也是一个发展时期，在此期间，他们强烈 受他们社交网络中的同龄人的影响，这是一个人的人际社交网络 互动和人际关系。除了口腔健康，对社交网络的研究 在促进我们对肥胖、吸烟、艾滋病毒/艾滋病和吸毒成瘾的理解方面发挥了重要作用。 关于社交网络对口腔健康的影响知之甚少，也没有现有的文献 社交网络与青少年口腔健康结果之间的关联。本研究将 检查青少年社交网络对牙科使用的预测程度。我们将使用 这是美国规模最大、最全面的青少年纵向调查，这是国家 青少年到成人健康的纵向研究，1994-2018（添加健康）。添加健康收集对等体 来自第一波145所学校的90，118名10至19岁公立学校学生的网络数据 （1994-1995年），并在2018年之前完成了另外4波数据收集。整个对等网络 可以从这个数据集构建，这使我们能够研究社会网络之间的关系， 在同一年的横断面和纵向上作为队列的特征和牙科利用 过渡到成年。我们将使用多元回归控制个人，家庭，社区， 和社会网络的特点与同行和学校水平的随机效应，以检查的程度， 哪些青少年社交网络可以预测牙科使用。该提案针对 NIDCR关于口腔健康+整体健康的2030战略愿景，优先考虑纵向队列 口腔健康的研究。这项研究的整体影响将增加我们的 了解社交网络和口腔健康结果之间的关系， 社会网络分析方法，牙齿健康研究，并告知新的方法， 在患有持续性未经治疗的龋齿的年龄范围内改善牙齿利用的干预措施。

ABSTRACT Adolescence is a developmental period when oral diseases often arise and a time during which dental care is the most common unmet health care need. Approximately one-fifth of U.S. adolescents have untreated dental caries in their permanent teeth, and they use fewer dental services compared with younger children. Adolescence is also a developmental period during which they are strongly influenced by the peers in their social network, which is a person’s network of in-person social interactions and interpersonal relationships. Outside of oral health, research on social networks have been instrumental in advancing our understanding of obesity, smoking, HIV/AIDS and drug addiction. Far less is known about the effects of social networks on oral health; and there is no existing literature on the association between social networks and oral health outcomes in adolescents. This study will examine the extent to which adolescent social networks are predictive of dental utilization. We will use the largest, most comprehensive longitudinal survey of adolescents in the U.S., which is the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, 1994-2018 (Add Health). Add Health collected peer network data from 90,118 public school students aged 10 to 19 years from 145 schools in Wave I (1994-1995) and completed 4 additional Waves of data collection through 2018. A whole peer network can be constructed from this dataset, which allows us to study the relationship between social network characteristics and dental utilization cross-sectionally in the same year and longitudinally as the cohort transitioned to adulthood. We will use multiple regression controlling for individual, family, community, and social network characteristics with peer- and school-level random effects to examine the extent to which adolescent social networks are predictive of dental utilization. This proposal addresses the NIDCR’s strategic vision 2030 on Oral Health + Overall Health, which prioritizes longitudinal cohort studies of oral health across the lifespan. The overall impact of this research will increase our understanding of the relationship between social networks and oral health outcomes, apply rigorous social network analytic methods to dental health research, and inform novel approaches to interventions that improve dental utilization in an age range that has persistent untreated dental caries.