Social Network and Social Capital among ex Clients of Comunità Libertà: a Comparison Between Drug-Free and Relapsed Subjects

Journal title SOCIOLOGIA E POLITICHE SOCIALI
Author/s Daria Panebianco
Publishing Year 2015 Issue 2014/3
Language Italian Pages 20 P. 179-198 File size 146 KB
DOI 10.3280/SP2014-003009
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

The current study describes the personal support networks of Italian drug users after long-term residential therapeutic treatment, and analyzes correlates of post-treatment substance abuse (relapse). Employing a social network analysis approach, ego-centered networks were analysed in a sample of 80 treated addicts, and which characteristics of their support networks are related to relapse were investigated. It was also explored the role of social capital in terms of network closure and opportunities to reach more and diverse benefits protecting against relapse that are due to the structure of the network. The results show that a lower risk of relapse is positively associated with having network members with higher socioeconomic status, greater occupational heterogeneity, and reciprocate support. Social capital derived from network structure (“brokerage”) contributes to maintaining abstinence through enhanced access to information in less homogeneous personal networks and exposure of treated drug users to greater diversity in the types of support received.

Keywords: Substance Abuse; Social Network; Social Support; Social Capital; Relapse

  1. Agresti, A., and Agresti, B.F. 1977. Statistical analysis of qualitative variation. Schuessler K. F. ed. Sociological Methodology 1978, pp. 204-237. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
  2. Albert, A. and Anderson, J. A. 1984. On the existence of maximum likelihood estimates in logistic regression models. Biometrika, 71, pp. 1-10.
  3. Bartkowski, J. P. and Xu, X. 2007. Religiosity and teen drug use reconsidered: A social capital perspective. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 32, pp. 182-194.
  4. Bearman, P. S., Moody, J. and Stovel, K. 2004. Chains of affection: The structure of adolescent romantic and sexual networks. American Journal of Sociology, 110, pp. 44-99.
  5. Borgatti, S. P., Everett, M. G. and Freeman, L. C. 2002. Ucinet for Windows: Software for social network analysis. Harvard, MA: Analytic Technologies. Boyce, W., Davies, D., Gallupe, O. and Shelley, D. 2008. Adolescent risk taking neighborhood social capital, and health. Journal of Adolescent Health, 43, pp. 246-252.
  6. Burt, R.S. 1983. Range. In Id., M.J. Minor, and Associates eds. Applied network analysis: A methodological introduction, pp. 176-194. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
  7. – 1984. Network items and the General Social Survey. Social Networks, 6, pp. 293-339.
  8. – 1992. Structural holes. The social structure of competition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  9. – 2000. The network structure of social capital. In R.I. Sutton, and B.M. Staw eds. Research in Organizational Behavior, pp. 345-423. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
  10. – 2005. Brokerage and Closure. An introduction to social capital. New York: Oxford University Press.
  11. Campbell, K.E. and Lee, B.A. 1991. Name generators in surveys of personal networks. Social Networks, 13, pp. 203-221.
  12. Carpiano, R.M., Kelly, B.C., Easterbrook, A. and Parsons, J. T. 2011. Community and drug use among gay men: The role of neighborhoods and networks. Journal of Health and social behavior, 52(1), pp. 74-90.
  13. Chein, I. 1965. The use of narcotics as a personal and social problem. In D.M. Wilner and G.G. Kassebaum eds. Narcotics. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co.
  14. Cheung, Y. W. and Cheung, N. W. T. 2003. Social capital and risk level of posttreatment drug use: Implications for harm reduction among male treated addicts in Hong Kong. Addiction Research & Theory, 11(3), pp. 145-162.
  15. Cheung, Y. W. 2009. A brighter side: Protective and risk factors in the rehabilitation of chronic drug abusers in Hong Kong. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press.
  16. Colozzi, I. a cura di 2011. Scuola e capitale sociale. Un’indagine nelle scuole secondarie di secondo grado della Provincia di Trento. Trento: Erickson.
  17. Di Nicola, P., Stanzani, S. e Tronca, L. 2011. Capitale sociale e benefici pubblici: Reti di prossimità e cicli di vita della famiglia. Sociologia e Politiche Sociali, 14, pp. 23-69.
  18. Donati, P. 1998. La società è relazione. In Id. a cura di. Lezioni di sociologia. Le categorie fondamentali per la comprensione della società (pp. 1-54). Padova: Cedam.
  19. – 2002. Introduzione alla sociologia relazionale. Milano: FrancoAngeli.
  20. – 2007. Introduzione. Perché il capitale sociale ha a che fare con le reti sociali. In
  21. Id. e I. Colozzi (a cura di). Terzo settore, mondi vitali e capitale sociale (pp. 7-19). Milano: FrancoAngeli.
  22. Dufur, M. J., Parcel, T. L. and McKune, B. A. 2007. Comparing the efficacy of social capital created in different contexts: The case of adolescent substance use. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, New York, NY.
  23. Efron, B. and Tibshirani, R. J. 1993. An introduction to the Bootstrap. New York: Chapman & Hall.
  24. El-Bassel, N., Cooper, D. and Chen, D. R. 1998. Social support and social networks among women on methadone. Social Service Review, 72, pp. 379-401.
  25. Fraser, M. and Hawkins, J. D. 1984. Social network analysis and drug misuse. Social Service Review, 58, pp. 81-97.
  26. Friedman, S. R., Neaigus, A., Jose, B. et al. 1997. Sociometric risk networks and risk for HIV infection. American Journal of Public Health, 87, pp. 1289-1296.
  27. Ganzeboom, H.B.G. and Treiman, D.J. 2003. Three internationally standardized measures for comparative research on occupational status. In J.H.P
  28. Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik and C. Wolf eds. Advances in Cross-National Comparison. A European Working Book for Demographic and Socio-Economic Variables (pp. 159-193). New York: Kluwer Academic Press.
  29. Gleason, M.E.J., Iida, M., Bolger, N. and Shrout, P.E. 2003. Daily supportive equity in close relationships. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, pp. 1036-1045.
  30. Gordon, A.J. and Zrull, M. 1991. Social networks and recovery: One year after inpatient treatment. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 8, pp. 143-152.
  31. Gossop, M., Green, L., Phillips, G., and Bradley, B. 1989. Lapse, relapse and survival among opiate addicts after treatment: A prospective follow-up study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 154, pp. 348-353.
  32. Hofler, M., Lieb, R., Perkonigg, A., Schuster, P., Sonntag, H. and Wittchen, H-U.
  33. 1999. Co-variates of cannabis use progression in a representative sample of adolescents: A prospective examination of vulnerability and risk factors. Addiction, 94, pp. 1679-1694.
  34. Kim, D., Subramanian, S. and Kawachi, I. 2006. Bonding versus bridging social capital and their associations with self rated health: A multilevel analysis of 40 US communities. British Medical Journal, 60, pp. 116-122.
  35. Kirst, M. J. 2009. Social capital and beyond: A qualitative analysis of social contextual and structural influences on drug-use related health behaviors. Journal of Drug Issues, 39, pp. 653-676.
  36. Koram, N., Liu, H., Li, J., Li, J., Luo J. and Nield, J. 2011. Role of social network dimensions in the transition to injection drug use: Actions speak louder than words. AIDS Behavior, 15, pp. 1579-1588.
  37. Latkin, C., Yang, C., Srikrishnan, A.K., Solomon, S., Mehta, S.H., Celentano, D.D., Kumar, M.S., Knowlton, A. and Solomon, S.S. 2011. The relationship between social network factors, HIV, and Hepatitis C among injection drug users in Chennai, India. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 117, pp. 50-54. Laumann, E. 1966. Prestige and Association in an Urban Community. New York: Bobbs-Merrill.
  38. Lin, N. 2001. Social Capital: A theory of structure and action. London and New York: Cambridge University Press.
  39. May, C.K. 2008. Drug courts: A social capital perspective. Sociological Inquiry, 78(4), pp. 513-535.
  40. Marsden, P.V. 1987. Core discussion networks of Americans. American Sociological Review, 52, pp. 122-131.
  41. – 2005. Recent developments in network measurement. In Carrington P. J., Scott J. and Wasserman S. eds. Models and methods in social network analysis (pp. 8-30). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  42. McCallister, L. and Fischer, C. 1978. A procedure for surveying personal networks. Sociological Methods and Research, 7, pp. 131-148.
  43. Mouw, T. 2003. Social capital and finding a job: Do contacts matter? American Sociological Review, 68, pp. 868-898.
  44. Prandini, R. 2007. Il capitale sociale familiare in prospettiva relazionale: come definirlo, misurarlo e sussidiarlo. Sociologia e Politiche sociali, 10(1), pp. 41-74.
  45. Rhoades, H., Wenzel, S.L., Golinelli, D., Tucker, J.S., Kennedy, D.P., Green, H.D. and Zhou, A. 2011. The social context of homeless men’s substance use. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 118, pp. 320-325.
  46. Rice, E., Milburn, N.G. and Monro, W. 2011. Social networking technology, social network composition, and reductions in substance use among homeless adolescents. Prevention Science, 12, pp. 80-88.
  47. Simpson, D.D. and Sells, S.B. eds. 1990. Opioid addiction and treatment: A 12-yearfollow-up. Robert E. Krieger, Publishing Company, Malabar, Florida.
  48. StataCorp. 2011. Stata Statistical Software: Release 12. College Station, TX: StataCorp LP.
  49. Stout, R.L. 2000. What is a drinking episode? Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 61, pp. 455- 461.
  50. Tyler, K.A. 2008. Social network characteristics and risky sexual and drug related behaviors among homeless young adults. Social Science Research, 37, pp. 673-685.
  51. Weeks, M.R., Clair, S., Borgatti, S.P., Radda, K. and Schensul, J.J. 2002. Social networks of drug users in high-risk sites: Finding the connections. AIDS and Behavior, 6, pp. 193-206.
  52. Wenzel, S.L., Green, H.D., Tucker, J.S., Golinelli, D., Kennedy, D.P., Ryan, G. and Zhou, A. 2009. The social context of homeless women’s alcohol and drug use. Drug Alcohol and Dependence, 105, pp. 16-23.
  53. Wright, J., Cullen, F. and Miller, J. 2001. Family social capital and delinquent involvement. Journal of Criminal Justice, 29(1), pp. 1-9.

Daria Panebianco, Social network e capitale sociale degli ex ospiti di Comunità Libertà: drug-free e ricaduti a confronto in "SOCIOLOGIA E POLITICHE SOCIALI" 3/2014, pp 179-198, DOI: 10.3280/SP2014-003009