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Isolation, Cohesion And Contingent Network Effects: The Case Of School Attachment And Engagement, G. Robin Gauthier, Jeffrey A. Smith, Sela Harcey, Kelly Markowski

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Isolation and cohesion are two key network features, often used to predict outcomes like mental health and deviance. More cohesive settings tend to have better outcomes, while isolates tend to fare worse than their more integrated peers. A common assumption of past work is that the effect of cohesion is universal, so that all actors get the same benefits of being in a socially cohesive environment. Here, we suggest that the effect of cohesion is universal only for specific types of outcomes. For other outcomes, experiencing the benefits of cohesion depends on an individual’s position in the network, such as …