Networked lives: Probing the influence of social networks on the life course

Social network research is well-equipped to help life course scholars produce a deeper and more nuanced approach to the principle of "linked lives," one of the cornerstones of the field. In this issue on Networked Lives, nine original articles and two commentaries generate new theories, empirical findings and methodological applications at the intersection of the fields of social networks and life course research. In this introduction, we reflect on these advances, highlighting key findings and challenges that await scholars in building more robust synergy between the two fields. Social networks emerge as key structural forces in life courses, yet there is much to learn about the mechanisms through which their effects on people's lives come about. There is a need to study further how networks evolve through the rhythm of life events, and to analyze broader and more complex networks that capture the roles and influences of relations beyond intimate or family ties. These papers demonstrate that there is much to be gained in probing how individuals are linked to and unlinked from others over time, and in carrying conceptual and methodological advances across social network and life course studies.

The COVID-19 pandemic as an existential threat: Evidence on young people's psychological vulnerability using a Multifaceted Threat Scale

Research offers evidence that younger generations suffered the most psychologically from the COVID-19 crisis. In this article, we look at the onset of the pandemic to understand the reasons for this increased vulnerability. We use the COVID-19 Multifaceted Threat Scale to explore potential mechanisms underlying generational differences in psychological well-being. In a sample of 994 individuals (+18) obtained in the USA and India, we first assess levels of perceived psychological well-being across the generations. Thus, we measure cross-generational differences in the perceived levels of financial, relational, existential, health and lifestyle threats experienced by respondents seven months after the pandemic broke out. In accordance with earlier findings, the results confirm that people from Generation Z and Generation Y reported worse levels of psychological well-being than older adults. Our results suggest that the heightened existential threat, as reflected in a loss of meaning and feelings of being "trapped", mediate the association between younger generations and worse psychological well-being. No substantial intergenerational differences were found for other threat dimensions. The observed effects were consistent across both national contexts, hence stressing the importance of existential concerns as a mechanism underlying the psychological vulnerability of younger people in the historical contingencies of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Multilevel networks and status attainment

Through Nan Lin's social resource theory, network studies have demonstrated the importance of personal contacts for status attainment. Achieving better occupations, wages, or social prestige depends not only on individual skills and personal resources, such as social class or human capital. Personal networks are also important structural factors because they provide access to social resources that are critical to careers, such as information and social support. Today, new research angles emerge from analyses of multilevel networks (AMN) on additional structural factors that are important for status attainment: the advantages of belonging to powerful and prestigious organizations and accessing through them complementary forms of social capital. From a series of AMN studies on one élite group of researchers, the importance of these structural aspects for professional careers emerge through concepts such as 'dual positioning' and 'dual alters', offering hypotheses that complement Nan Lin's theory in each of its postulates. Taking these hypotheses into account, the article formulates a model for the study of status attainment consisting of four arguments: (1) individuals' initial positions, (2) access to social capital, and the impact of its (3) mobilization on (4) socioeconomic returns. The article discusses the analytical strategies that emerge from this model, opening up new prospects for investigating the role played by social networks in status attainment.