The importance of place and time in analysing social support and the influence of personal networks and geographical areas on adolescents'life chances

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Research on family and social support more widely recognises the importance of space and place. It is well known from neighbourhood studies that youth living in disadvantaged and remote areas are more likely to experience social isolation. However, most studies have examined the role of spatial contexts (neighbourhoods, schools) and largely ignored the personal network context, possibly leading to misattribution errors. Social network research is, in turn, often limited to the analysis of physical distance and has generally failed to consider that both networks and spatial environments affect opportunities for social support. The objective of this PhD project is to bridge this divide and examine how support from personal ties varies with both networks and residential areas applying a cross-classified multilevel modelling approach with personal (or egocentric) network data. The approach is used to analyse a large survey sample of young adults aged 18-20 living in Switzerland (n=40,000), including the full national cohort of young men of this age, where the outcome variable of interest is whether the tie (unit of analysis) from an alter to the young adult (ego) is supportive in terms of information provision, advice, emotional help or role model. The central premise is that support not only hinges on individual or tie characteristics, but also on the properties of personal networks (e.g. density) and areas (e.g. deprivation) where egos and alters live.A three-level modelling strategy can simultaneously investigate ego/ego-network (level2) and area (level 3) dependences. Cross-classified multilevel models (CCMM) are well suited for handling data that are not strictly hierarchical, since all alters of an ego do not necessarily live within the same area. Drawing on recent advances in multilevel modelling with network data, the project also aims to determine the best ways of modelling young adults' health and social behaviours and outcomes.