Professional athletes' social networks have rarely been explored. In this paper, we propose a framework to analyze athletes' social networks. Based on the characteristics of athletes' social network structure and social support theory, the matrix distribution is introduced to describe the network structure. The observation model of the Bayesian network is established, and then the Gaussian process analysis model of sparse matrix is used to investigated the network. We collected real-world data of athletes' social networks by questionnaires, which contain eight thematic network data. With our method, the interpersonal network of professional athletes is analyzed and the adjacency relationships are predicted. Finally, taking the social subnet of the athlete social network as an example and using the model and algorithm, the node support factor analysis and the complex network community convergence factors are analyzed. We found that professional athletes' social networks have a stronger small-world characteristic than the general public's social networks. The proposed model and algorithm provide a new quantitative approach for studying professional athletes' social networks.INDEX TERMS Bayesian network, matrix distribution, professional athletes, social network.
In response to the lack of research on the online social network structure of athletes, elements of research on the online social network structure of athletes were constructed based on the whole network perspective and through the study of the characteristics of the whole online social network structure of athletes, in order to provide reference for the physical and mental health development of athletes from a new perspective. Data were collected through questionnaires, and several software programs were used to preprocess and analyse the collected data. Through the analysis of the online whole network structure, it was found that the network density of the online support network was generally greater than that of the online discussion network, and athletes still showed stronger practical support demands and behaved more rationally in the process of training and learning life, while from the perspective of the relationship structure, the athletes’ family and classmates’ online support is weaker than that in previous studies; in terms of the whole network, strong relationships still dominate in this population, while attention should be paid to the impact of weak relationships.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.