A closer look at mental health in friendship and social interaction networks

There is a strong interplay between someone’s social environment and his/her mental health. These inter- and intrapersonal systems are highly dynamic and affect each other constantly through various social mechanisms. Hence, in my work, I aim at understanding the role of three social mechanisms – social integration, social influence, and social selection – in the co-evolution of social interactions and friendship ties with an individual’s mental health. In my talk, I will present two studies that investigate this interplay. The first one focuses on the co-evolution of weak and strong friendship ties with emotional well-being. The second study examines the social selection effects of depressive symptoms on face-to-face social interactions.