SOCIAL NETWORK

Social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations) and a set of the dyadic ties between these actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for analyzing the structure of whole social entities as well as a variety of theories explaining the patterns observed in these structures.[1] The study of these structures uses social network analysis to identify local and global patterns, locate influential entities, and examine network dynamics.

Social networks and the analysis of them is an inherently interdisciplinary academic field which emerged from psychology, sociology, statistics, and graph theory. Georg Simmel authored early structural theories in sociology emphasizing the dynamics of triads and "web of group affiliations. Jacob Moreno is credited with developing the first sociograms in the 1930s to study interpersonal relationships. These approaches were mathematically formalized in the 1950s and theories and methods of social networks became pervasive in the social and behavioral sciences by the 1980s.[1][3] Social network analysis is now one of the major paradigms in contemporary sociology, and is also employed in a number of other social and formal sciences. Together with other complex networks, it forms part of the nascent field of network science

Teenagers throughout the country regularly use the internet, cell phones, and video games to gather information and communicate with each other. This ability to interact with others is the unique feature of social media which provides powerful new ways fourteens to create and navigate their social environments. Teen’s use of social media occurs simultaneously with their developing identity, emerging sexuality, physical development, and moral consciousness. In this brief, we examine how social media impacts the behavioral health of California’s adolescents. While media use is an integral part of the daily life of adolescents, there are a number of risks associated with social media use, specifically, negative effects on mental health, cyber bullying, texting/sexting, dangers of sexual solicitation, and exposure to problematic and illegal content and privacy violations.

The risks that teens face online are similar to those faced offline. However, the risk profile for the use of various types of social media depends on the type of risk, a teen’s use of the media, and the psychological makeup of the teen using them. It is important to note that teens most at risk often engage in risky behaviors offline and also have difficulties another parts of their lives

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