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

摘要 青春期是口腔疾病经常发生的发育期，也是牙齿发育的时期 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患有 他们的恒牙中没有经过治疗的龋齿，与 年龄更小的孩子。青春期也是一个发育时期，在这个时期，他们强烈地 受其社交网络中的同龄人的影响，这是一个人的面对面社交网络 互动和人际关系。除了口腔健康，对社交网络的研究也有 有助于增进我们对肥胖、吸烟、艾滋病毒/艾滋病和吸毒成瘾的理解。 人们对社交网络对口腔健康的影响知之甚少，也没有现成的文献 关于社会网络与青少年口腔健康结果之间的关联。这项研究将 检查青少年社交网络对牙齿使用的预测程度。我们将使用 美国最大、最全面的青少年纵向调查，这是全国 青少年到成人健康的纵向研究，1994-2018年(添加健康)。添加收集的健康信息对等方 第一波145所学校90,118名10岁至19岁公立学校学生的网络数据 (1994-1995年)，到2018年又完成了4次数据收集。整个对等网络 可以从这个数据集中构建，这使得我们能够研究社交网络之间的关系 同年纵向横断面特征及牙齿利用情况 过渡到成年。我们将对个人、家庭、社区、 并将社交网络特征与同伴和学校层面的随机效应相结合，考察其程度 哪些青少年社交网络可以预测牙齿的使用情况。这项建议解决了 NIDCR关于口腔健康+整体健康的2030年战略愿景，优先考虑纵向队列 寿命跨度的口腔健康研究。这项研究的总体影响将增加我们的 对社交网络和口腔健康结果之间的关系的理解，应用严格 社交网络分析方法用于牙科健康研究，并提供新的方法 在有持久的未经治疗的龋齿的年龄范围内改善牙齿利用率的干预措施。

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.