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Highlights • Relational event models reveal significant time-specific variation in network effects. • Aggregate estimates mask fine-grained time-specific variations in social mechanisms. • Differences are revealed between degree-based and volume-based effects. • Social mechanisms affect the dynamics of interorganizational relations differently at different points in time. • The effect of past events on future events decays rapidly. Abstract The generative mechanisms controlling change in interorganizational relations are typically assumed to be time-independent, i.e., operate homogeneously and synchronously over time. In this paper we consider some of the implications of violating this assumption. We adopt and extend statistical models for relational events to reveal time-specific variations in mechanisms underlying interorganizational relations observed within a small community of health care organizations. We find that aggregate estimates of parameters associated with mechanisms of theoretical interest mask fine-grained temporal variation in relational events sequences. We discuss the implications of this result for studies of interorganizational relations – and social networks more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need for support becomes stronger in situations of pressure, uncertainty and overload caused by unfavorable economic, demographic or social circumstances. Especially in countries-such as Italy-where an adequate welfare system is lacking, the individual's social space can represent a resilience (anti-frailty) tool through the activation of a support network. While the literature has mainly analyzed the support that some vulnerable categories (e.g., elderly and youths) receive from their family, we focus on individuals living in Italy in the first stages of their family life, with the aim of describing their support network. We construct the potential support ego-centered (PSE) network-at partner and couple level-of individuals living in couple using data from the survey 'Family and Social Subjects' carried out in Italy in 2009 by the Italian National Statistical Institute. Furthermore, we compare the network typologies detected using two alternative clustering techniques with the objective of finding the partners' and couples' network types and verifying whether traditional strong support received by the family persists in Italy and/or whether new kinds of support networks are emerging. Several PSE network typologies, ranging from empty to comprehensive networks, were determined with a fair match between the two procedures. Analysis revealed the importance of friends and neighbors, especially in the North of Italy, to the support of partners and couple as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International literature on individual behavior has shown the importance of the network of relationships binding individuals to the people who are close to them in everyday life. Family and other role relations are important sources of emotional and instrumental support, as well as social companionship. For the Italian scenario, the 2003 Generations and Gender Survey offers some challenges for constructing ego-centered support networks based on reasonable assumptions of the frequency of contacts and residential proximity of respondents with kin, friends and neighbors. Focusing on young Italian adults aged 18-34 years who are single or have a partner, we define two kinds of support networks-the potential support ego network and the effective support family network-with the aim of analyzing the effects of network characteristics (size and composition) on the probability of receiving help. Our findings show that couples received more support and more often than singles. Although singles' potential support networks were more characterized by no family ties than the ones of partners, the availability of a 'comprehensive' network or a network not 'encapsulated' only in the family increased the probability of receiving help in both groups. Moreover, gender differences provide evidence of distinct behavior between partners in activating their network for (family) support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religious rituals that are painful or highly stressful are hypothesized to be costly signs of commitment essential for the evolution of complex society. Yet few studies have investigated how such extreme ritual practices were culturally transmitted in past societies. Here, we report the first study to analyze temporal and spatial variation in bloodletting rituals recorded in Classic Maya (ca. 250–900 CE) hieroglyphic texts. We also identify the sociopolitical contexts most closely associated with these ancient recorded rituals. Sampling an extensive record of 2,480 hieroglyphic texts, this study identifies every recorded instance of the logographic sign for the word ch’ahb’ that is associated with ritual bloodletting. We show that documented rituals exhibit low frequency whose occurrence cannot be predicted by spatial location. Conversely, network ties better capture the distribution of bloodletting rituals across the southern Maya region. Our results indicate that bloodletting rituals by Maya nobles were not uniformly recorded, but were typically documented in association with antagonistic statements and may have signaled royal commitments among connected polities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]