TY - JOUR
T1 - Characterizing latent classes of social support among persons who inject drugs
AU - Sacamano, Paul L.
AU - Mehta, Shruti H.
AU - Latkin, Carl
AU - Falade-Nwulia, Oluwaseun
AU - Kirk, Gregory D.
AU - Rudolph, Abby E.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was support by following National Institutes of Health grants: National Institute on Drug Abuse grants AIDS Linked to the Intravenous Experience (ALIVE) grant numbers DA12568 and DA036297 ; National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases grant T32AI102623 ; National Institute on Drug Abuse grant T32DA007292 .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2020/2/1
Y1 - 2020/2/1
N2 - Background: Social network members influence risk and health behaviors, yet little is known about the support that persons who inject drugs (PWID) receive from their closest ties. Methods: 970 participants from the AIDS Linked to the IntraVenous Experience (ALIVE) study completed a social network survey between April 2016 and June 2017 about their five closest ties. Our analysis: 1) identified latent classes of support received by participants; 2) determined whether class membership differed by current (≤12 months) vs. former (>12 months) injection drug use; 3) compared classes of support by individual and network characteristics. Results: 970 participants listed 3,388 network members. We identified three support classes: (1) Moderate (n = 249): probabilities of support <0.40; (2) High (n = 366): probabilities of support 0.58-0.82; (3) Very high (n = 355): probabilities of support 0.91-0.99. In adjusted analysis compared to moderate support, the odds of high and very high support increased as the mean age of network members increased (Adjusted Odds Ratio [AOR]:1.03; 95 % CI: 1.01, 1.05) and as the number of network members with whom they interacted daily increased (AOR-high: 1.33; 95 % CI:1.14, 1.56 and AOR-very high: 1.54; 95 % CI: 1.30, 1.83). While current injection drug use was associated with lower unadjusted odds of high and very high support, the associations were not statistically significant in adjusted analysis. Conclusions: Support was higher among networks of older ties and more frequent interaction, but differences did not appear to be driven by injection drug use status. Findings point to the importance of the closest social ties.
AB - Background: Social network members influence risk and health behaviors, yet little is known about the support that persons who inject drugs (PWID) receive from their closest ties. Methods: 970 participants from the AIDS Linked to the IntraVenous Experience (ALIVE) study completed a social network survey between April 2016 and June 2017 about their five closest ties. Our analysis: 1) identified latent classes of support received by participants; 2) determined whether class membership differed by current (≤12 months) vs. former (>12 months) injection drug use; 3) compared classes of support by individual and network characteristics. Results: 970 participants listed 3,388 network members. We identified three support classes: (1) Moderate (n = 249): probabilities of support <0.40; (2) High (n = 366): probabilities of support 0.58-0.82; (3) Very high (n = 355): probabilities of support 0.91-0.99. In adjusted analysis compared to moderate support, the odds of high and very high support increased as the mean age of network members increased (Adjusted Odds Ratio [AOR]:1.03; 95 % CI: 1.01, 1.05) and as the number of network members with whom they interacted daily increased (AOR-high: 1.33; 95 % CI:1.14, 1.56 and AOR-very high: 1.54; 95 % CI: 1.30, 1.83). While current injection drug use was associated with lower unadjusted odds of high and very high support, the associations were not statistically significant in adjusted analysis. Conclusions: Support was higher among networks of older ties and more frequent interaction, but differences did not appear to be driven by injection drug use status. Findings point to the importance of the closest social ties.
KW - Latent class analysis
KW - Persons who inject drugs
KW - Social network
KW - Social support
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85077374303&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85077374303&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2019.107816
DO - 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2019.107816
M3 - Article
C2 - 31923777
AN - SCOPUS:85077374303
SN - 0376-8716
VL - 207
JO - Drug and alcohol dependence
JF - Drug and alcohol dependence
M1 - 107816
ER -