Social Network Type and Healthy Lifestyle Among Persons With Type 2 Diabetes

The prevalence of Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is rapidly increasing, and adopting a healthy lifestyle can have a significant positive effect on the prognosis of diabetes. However, the lifestyle of persons with T2DM is not optimistic, influenced by various factors, with social networks being one of the important ones.

The aims of this study were to identify social network type and further explore the relationship between social network type and healthy lifestyle among persons with T2DM.

A total of 450 participants with T2DM completed the sociodemographic questionnaire, the self-developed healthy lifestyle questionnaire, and the social network information questionnaire. A latent class analysis was used to identify the social network type of participants with T2DM. Univariate analysis and hierarchical linear regression analysis were utilized to explore the relationship between social network type and healthy lifestyle.

The results show that the participants were divided into five latent classes regarding social network type: "diverse-active," "diverse-normal," "friend-restricted," "family-centered," and "family-restricted." Relative to the diverse-active type, participants in the friend-restricted, family-centered, or family-restricted network type had significantly lower healthy lifestyle scores. However, the diverse-normal type was not significantly different from the diverse-active type.

There was significant heterogeneity in the types of social networks among persons with T2DM. Healthcare professionals should consider the types of social networks of persons with T2DM when working to improve their healthy lifestyle, helping them to develop diverse-active social network.