Antidepressant use in spatial social networks

Abstract

Social networks may help individuals maintain their mental health. Most empirical work based on small-scale surveys finds that cohesive social networks are critical for mental well-being, while diverse networks are considered less important. Here, we link data on antidepressant use of 277,344 small-town residents to a nationwide online social network. The data enable us to examine how individuals’ mental health care is related to the spatial characteristics of their social networks including their ties in the local community and connections to distant communities. We find that, besides the cohesion of social networks around home, the diversity of connections to distant places is negatively correlated with the probability of antidepressant use. Spatial diversity of social networks is also associated with decreasing dosage in subsequent years. This relationship is independent from the local access to antidepressants and is more prevalent for young individuals. Structural features of spatial social networks are prospectively associated with depression treatment.