Roybal Center for Translational Research on Aging

描述（由申请人提供）：我们的Roybal中心专注于认识到复杂的社会网络结构在个人健康中发挥着重要作用。我们工作的两个首要目标是（1）提出关于社交网络在产生与健康和幸福相关的具体结果中的作用的重要问题，以及（2）开发涉及真实的社交网络的回答这些问题的方法，其中可以测量与健康和幸福相关的行为信息。我们的Roybal中心将专注于社会网络基础的一些最紧迫的问题所面临的健康和福祉的老年人在美国今天，如肥胖和癌症，使用各种新的方法适用于不同年龄的人群。我们的中心将强调使用互联网数据收集和网络属性的实验操作;此外，我们还希望继续利用我们现有的数据，包括我们独特的心脏研究社交网络。我们将研究社交网络的拓扑结构和动态功能的影响。我们将检查两个人和在线社交网络的人际网络连接的模式对健康和幸福的影响，我们将研究健康和幸福是如何通过网络关系的现象流的影响。我们的具体目标是：（1）创建一个中心，帮助开发新方法，以了解社交网络对新领域健康的影响，（2）资助研究网络拓扑结构（特别是在线社交网络）如何影响健康和福祉的试点项目，（3）资助研究健康行为和状态如何通过网络结构在“真实的生活”社交网络中流动的试点项目，如心脏研究社交网络，以及在线网络，（4）帮助将试点项目的结果转化为帮助人们改善健康行为和福祉的具体建议，（5）帮助将试点项目和其他社交网络研究的结果转化为政府和其他利益相关者的政策建议，（6）广泛促进和协调与我们单独的社会网络为重点的方案项目有关的健康和老年人福祉的问题的研究。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Our Roybal Center is focused on the recognition that complex social network structures play an important role in individual health. The two overarching goals of our work are (1) to ask significant questions about the role of social networks in producing specific outcomes related to health and well-being, and (2) to develop methods of answering such questions involving real social networks in which behavioral information relevant to health and well-being can be measured. Our Roybal Center will focus on the social network underpinnings of some of the most pressing problems facing the health and well-being of the elderly in the U.S. today, such as obesity and cancer, using a variety of novel methods applied to populations of diverse ages. Our Center will emphasize the use of internet data collection and the experimental manipulation of network properties; in addition, we also expect to continue to exploit our extant data, including our unique Framingham Heart Study Social Network. We will examine the impact of the topology and dynamic functioning of social networks. We will examine both inperson and online social networks for the effects of patterns of interpersonal network connections on health and well being, and we will study how health and well being are affected by the flow of phenomena across network ties. Our specific aims are to: (1) create a Center that contributes to the development of new methods for understanding social network effects on health in new areas, (2) fund pilot projects that examine how network topology, particularly in online social networks, affects health and well-being, (3) fund pilot projects that examine how the flow of health behaviors and states through network structures occurs in both "real life" social networks, such as the Framingham Heart Study Social Network, and in online networks, (4) help translate the findings of pilot projects into concrete recommendations for helping people improve health behaviors and well being, (5) help translate the findings of pilot projects and other social network research into policy recommendations for government and other stakeholders, (6) broadly promote and coordinate research with our separate social networks-focused Program Project on issues related to health and well being in the elderly.