Social Networks and Parenting Study

Parents make countless decisions for their children, especially in the first years of life. What to eat. What to wear. What to watch. What to read. Where to live. When and where to start school. When to visit the doctor. What to do when they get sick. This project examines how parents make those decisions. Specifically, it examines the role that parents? social networks?their family members, friends, neighbors, coworkers, and even online acquaintances?play in that decision-making process. We know that parents rely on their social networks for support. We also know that those networks are highly stratified by social class, race/ethnicity, and gender. What we do not know is how advice and pressure from social networks matter for parents in making decisions about their children's well-being. Nor do we know how networks contribute to larger patterns of stratification in parenting practices and children's well-being. The project focuses on parents? decisions about childhood vaccinations.

Participants will be compensated for their participation.