Population ageing requires society to adjust by ensuring additional types of services and assistance for elderly people. These may be provided by either organized services and sources of informal social support. The latter are especially important since a lack of social support is associated with a lower level of psychological and physical well-being. During the Covid-19 pandemic, social support for the elderly has proven to be even more crucial, also due to physical distancing. Therefore, this study aims to identify and describe the various types of personal social support networks available to the elderly population during the pandemic. To this end, a survey of Slovenians older than 64 years was conducted from April 25 to May 4, 2020 on a probability web-panel-based sample (n = 605). The ego networks were clustered by a hierarchical clustering approach for symbolic data. Clustering was performed for different types of social support (socializing, instrumental support, emotional support) and different characteristics of the social support networks (i.e., type of relationship, number of contacts, geographical distance). The results show that most of the elderly population in Slovenia has a satisfactory social support network, while the share of those without any (accessible) source of social support is significant. The results are particularly valuable for sustainable care policy planning, crisis intervention planning as well as any future waves of the coronavirus.

This article examines the structure of co-authorship networks’ stability in time. The goal of the article is to analyse differences in the stability and size of groups of researchers that co-author with each other (core research groups) formed in disciplines from the natural and technical sciences on one hand and the social sciences and humanities on the other. The cores were obtained by a pre-specified blockmodeling procedure assuming a multi-core–semi-periphery–periphery structure. The stability of the obtained cores was measured with the Modified Adjusted Rand Index. The assumed structure was confirmed in all analysed disciplines. The average size of the cores obtained is higher in the second time period and the average core size is greater in the natural and technical sciences than in the social sciences and humanities. There are no differences in average core stability between the natural and technical sciences and the social sciences and humanities. However, if the stability of cores is defined by the splitting of cores and not also by the percentage of researchers who left the cores, the average stability of the cores is higher in disciplines from the scientific fields of Engineering sciences and technologies and Medical sciences than in disciplines of the Humanities, if controlling for the networks’ and disciplines’ characteristics. The analysis was performed on disciplinary co-authorship networks of Slovenian researchers in two time periods (1991–2000 and 2001–2010).

Uvod: Spletne svetovalnice predstavljajo nov medij za iskanje informacij o zdravju. Cilj raziskave je ugotoviti pomen analiz vprašanj mladostnikov za razumevanje njihovih problemov, potreb in hrepenenj. Metode: Leta 2012 je bila uvedena katalogizacija vprašanj spletne svetovalnice glede na tipologijo problemov. Vprašanja so bila glede na vsebino sproti razvrščena v krovno kategorijo in nato pod več vsebinskih tem. Izračunani so bili deleži, povprečja ter kvartili, v nekaterih primerih Cramerjevih V koeficientov. Analiza je zajela celotno opredeljeno statistično populacijo (3.257 kodiranih vprašanj), obiskovalcev spletne svetovalnice, v obdobju med 1. januarjem 2012 in 31. decembrom 2012. Rezultati: Večino uporabnikov predstavljajo dekleta (76 %), najbolj reprezentativno skupino mladostnikov pa stari med 14 in 17 let (57 %). Največ vprašanj je bilo razvrščenih v kategorije spolnost in spolno zdravje (24 %), odnosi (23 %) in telo (20 %). Dolžina objav raste s starostjo uporabnika (Cr's V = 0,18), razlikuje pa se tudi glede na spol uporabnika (dekleta so objavila večji delež daljših vprašanj (Cr's V = 0,15)) in tematiko (Cr's V = 0,31). Diskusija in zaključek: Katalogizacija vprašanj je primerna za identifikacijo in analizo problemov, potreb in hrepenenj mladostnikov. Redna periodična klasifikacija vprašanj z analizami bo služila kot uporabno raziskovalno orodje za delo z mladostniki.

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The paper addresses the relationship between different local network mechanisms and different global network structures, described by blockmodels. The research question is narrowed to the context of preschool children networks. Based on the studies regarding friendship, liking and interactional networks among preschool children, the popularity, transitivity, mutuality and assortativity mechanisms are assumed to be important for the evolution of such networks. It is assumed that the global network structure is defined by an asymmetric core-cohesive blockmodel consisting of one core group of units and two or more cohesive groups of units. Therefore, the main research question is whether the emergence of an asymmetric core-cohesive blockmodel can be a result of the influence of the listed mechanisms. Different initial global network structures are considered. Monte Carlo simulations were used. The relative fit measure is proposed and used to compare different blockmodel types on generated networks. The results show that the listed mechanisms indeed lead to the assumed global network structure.

Researchers have extensively studied the social mechanisms that drive the formation of networks observed among preschool children. However, less attention has been given to global network structures in terms of blockmodels. A blockmodel is a network where the nodes are groups of equivalent units (according to links to others) from a studied network. Cugmas et al. [1] showed that mutuality, popularity, assortativity, and different types of transitivity mechanisms can lead the global network structure to the proposed asymmetric core-cohesive blockmodel. Yet, they did not provide any evidence that such a global network structure actually appears in any empirical data. In this paper, the symmetric version of the core-cohesive blockmodel type is proposed. This blockmodel type consists of three or more groups of units. The units from each group are internally well linked to each other while those from different groups are not linked to each other. This is true for all groups, except one in which the units have mutual links to all other units in the network. In this study, it is shown that the proposed blockmodel type appears in empirical interactional networks collected among preschool children. Monte Carlo simulations confirm that the most often studied social network mechanisms can lead the global network structure to the proposed symmetric blockmodel type. The units' attributes are not considered in this study.June 12, 2019 1/17 links established with all units in the network, while the units from the other groups (called cohesive groups) are internally well linked. The units from different cohesive groups are not linked to each other. This global network structure (called symmetric core-cohesive blockmodel, described in more detail in subsection Global network structure) is proposed since it is a combination of cohesive and symmetric core-periphery global network structures and because these global network structures can arise from the well-known transitivity [1,2] and popularity [1] mechanisms. These two mechanisms were found to be present in the formation of many liking and friendship networks collected among preschoolers (see subsection Local mechanisms).The assumption made in this study is that the proposed global network structure appears among preschool children. Entrance to preschool brings a set of peers together who were previously unknown to one another. This is rare in the natural world and, thus, the shift into preschool peer groups offers a unique opportunity to assess and understand the mechanisms behind peer group formation. Preschool entry is also distinct from other social network settings in that it offers a closed network space in which peers interact. Preschool also provides a unique developmental context in which children are motivated, perhaps for the first time, to form new and enduring social relationships with similar-age peers [3,4].This assumption (of the emergence of the proposed global network structure) is tested by using the blockmodeling approach [5] on the symmetrized networks previ...

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Slovenija sodi med hitro starajoče se države, kar zahteva prilagoditve družbe na različnih področjih. Eno izmed njih je skrb za starejše, ki zaradi težav, povezanih s staranjem, potrebujejo vrsto storitev in pomoči. Del potrebne pomoči lahko pokrijejo formalne storitve (kot je osebna pomoč na domu), zelo pomembni pa so tudi neformalni viri socialne opore (sorodniki, prijatelji, sosedi). Raziskave kažejo, da ima del starejših razmeroma zadostno socialno oporo, obstaja pa tudi nezanemarljiv delež starejših s šibko socialno oporo ali brez virov neformalne socialne opore. Ti so lahko še posebej ranljivi v okoliščinah, kot je pandemija koronavirusa SARS-CoV-2. Tako članek naslavlja značilnosti omrežij socialne opore starejših, ki živijo doma, v času popolnega zaprtja javnega življenja v prvem valu pandemije, in sicer na podlagi podatkov, zbranih v okviru spletnega panela JazVem. Gre za verjetnostni vzorec 605 oseb, starejših od 64 let. V raziskavi so bile merjene čustvena in instrumentalna opora, opora v smislu neformalnega druženja, pa tudi elementi formalne opore in različne značilnosti omrežij. V vzorcu je bila dobra desetina starostnikov z omejenimi viri socialne opore. To so starostniki, ki niso navedli nobenega vira socialne opore, in starostniki s samo oddaljenimi viri socialne opore. Na število in dostopnost virov socialne opore v času pandemije vplivata spol in velikost gospodinjstva starostnika.