LAUSR

The growing epidemic of violence in urban cities has been linked to stress-related health disorders and PTSD. Social networks, broadly defined as an individual’s personal and professional relationships, may be protective against these consequences. However, studies on network size have been mixed. We hypothesized that network proximity, the physical closeness of network confidants, may help explain differences in the level of protection conferred by social networks. In this study, we compared network size alone versus network size and proximity, to examine associations between these characteristics and psychosocial health (violence-related stress and PTSD) in a high-risk population.