Dataset Information

We'll meet again: revealing distributional and temporal patterns of social contact.

ABSTRACT: What are the dynamics and regularities underlying social contact, and how can contact with the people in one's social network be predicted? In order to characterize distributional and temporal patterns underlying contact probability, we asked 40 participants to keep a diary of their social contacts for 100 consecutive days. Using a memory framework previously used to study environmental regularities, we predicted that the probability of future contact would follow in systematic ways from the frequency, recency, and spacing of previous contact. The distribution of contact probability across the members of a person's social network was highly skewed, following an exponential function. As predicted, it emerged that future contact scaled linearly with frequency of past contact, proportionally to a power function with recency of past contact, and differentially according to the spacing of past contact. These relations emerged across different contact media and irrespective of whether the participant initiated or received contact. We discuss how the identification of these regularities might inspire more realistic analyses of behavior in social networks (e.g., attitude formation, cooperation).

SUBMITTER: Pachur T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3903503 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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We'll meet again: revealing distributional and temporal patterns of social contact.

Pachur Thorsten T Schooler Lael J LJ Stevens Jeffrey R JR

PloS one 20140127 1

What are the dynamics and regularities underlying social contact, and how can contact with the people in one's social network be predicted? In order to characterize distributional and temporal patterns underlying contact probability, we asked 40 participants to keep a diary of their social contacts for 100 consecutive days. Using a memory framework previously used to study environmental regularities, we predicted that the probability of future contact would follow in systematic ways from the fre ...[more]

PMID: 24475073

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Project description:BackgroundDiseases such as COVID-19 are spread through social contact. Reducing social contacts is required to stop disease spread in pandemics for which vaccines have not yet been developed. However, existing data on social contact patterns in the United States (U.S.) is limited.MethodWe use American Time Use Survey data from 2003-2018 to describe and quantify the age-pattern of disease-relevant social contacts. For within-household contacts, we construct age-structured contact duration matrices (who spends time with whom, by age). For both within-household and non-household contacts, we also estimate the mean number and duration of contact by location. We estimate and test for differences in the age-pattern of social contacts based on demographic, temporal, and spatial characteristics.ResultsThe mean number and duration of social contacts vary by age. The biggest gender differences in the age-pattern of social contacts are at home and at work; the former appears to be driven by caretaking responsibilities. Non-Hispanic Blacks have a shorter duration of contact and fewer social contacts than non-Hispanic Whites. This difference is largely driven by fewer and shorter contacts at home. Pre-pandemic, non-Hispanic Blacks have shorter durations of work contacts. Their jobs are more likely to require close physical proximity, so their contacts are riskier than those of non-Hispanic Whites. Hispanics have the highest number of household contacts and are also more likely to work in jobs requiring close physical proximity than non-Hispanic Whites. With the exceptions of work and school contacts, the duration of social contact is higher on weekends than on weekdays. Seasonal differences in the total duration of social contacts are driven by school-aged respondents who have significantly shorter contacts during the summer months. Contact patterns did not differ by metro status. Age patterns of social contacts were similar across regions.ConclusionSocial contact patterns differ by age, race and ethnicity, and gender. Other factors besides contact patterns may be driving seasonal variation in disease incidence if school-aged individuals are not an important source of transmission. Pre-pandemic, there were no spatial differences in social contacts, but this finding has likely changed during the pandemic.

Project description:SARS-CoV-2 is primarily transmitted through person-to-person contacts. It is important to collect information on age-specific contact patterns because SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility, transmission, and morbidity vary by age. To reduce the risk of infection, social distancing measures have been implemented. Social contact data, which identify who has contact with whom especially by age and place are needed to identify high-risk groups and serve to inform the design of non-pharmaceutical interventions. We estimated and used negative binomial regression to compare the number of daily contacts during the first round (April-May 2020) of the Minnesota Social Contact Study, based on respondent's age, gender, race/ethnicity, region, and other demographic characteristics. We used information on the age and location of contacts to generate age-structured contact matrices. Finally, we compared the age-structured contact matrices during the stay-at-home order to pre-pandemic matrices. During the state-wide stay-home order, the mean daily number of contacts was 5.7. We found significant variation in contacts by age, gender, race, and region. Adults between 40 and 50 years had the highest number of contacts. The way race/ethnicity was coded influenced patterns between groups. Respondents living in Black households (which includes many White respondents living in inter-racial households with black family members) had 2.7 more contacts than respondents in White households; we did not find this same pattern when we focused on individual's reported race/ethnicity. Asian or Pacific Islander respondents or in API households had approximately the same number of contacts as respondents in White households. Respondents in Hispanic households had approximately two fewer contacts compared to White households, likewise Hispanic respondents had three fewer contacts than White respondents. Most contacts were with other individuals in the same age group. Compared to the pre-pandemic period, the biggest declines occurred in contacts between children, and contacts between those over 60 with those below 60.

Dataset Information

We'll meet again: revealing distributional and temporal patterns of social contact.

Publications

We'll meet again: revealing distributional and temporal patterns of social contact.

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