Social networks: friendship and mutual help

<p>Now methods of social networks analysis are escalating popularity in different areas the higher education, medicine, economy and politics.</p><p>For example the social network analysis was used in epidemiology to help to understand how models of human interaction help or interfere with distribution of diseases, such as HIV in the population. The social network analysis can be also the effective tool for mass monitoring &ndash; the program of full informative notification using information from various sources and various models of the analysis helped to define potential terrorist, political or economic threats.</p><p>The aim of my work is to analyze student&rsquo;s friendship formation during their studying at the university, paying attention to how the academic achievements depend on student&rsquo;s environment.</p><p>The analysis of social networks of the higher school of economics is explained by the nature of the university as a place for interaction of different individuals.&nbsp; Thus, the University giving the basis for adaptation in the society. This process takes place not only during broadcasting of knowledge in the classroom, but also in communicating on a less formal level, for example, through various social networks (scientific, friendly, athletic, musical, etc). In other words, the University is one of the most visible place for monitoring the formation of social networks.</p><p>The majority of modern SNA studies on students&rsquo; social networks in higher education have tended to focus on two main questions: which factors determine network formation and how this network influence people behavior.</p><p>When investigating the role of networks, researchers estimate different types of peer effects that show how network characteristics may influence individual outcomes.</p><p>When examining which factors lead to the students network formation researchers document such factors as race and ethnicity, socioeconomic characteristics, age, cultural habits and cohorts. In the literature there are consistent evidences that students prefer to be friends with students similar to themselves. This effect is known as homophily. Physical and social propinquity is essential as well. If students are roommates in the dorm or they live geographically close or study the same educational program the probability that they will become friends increases.</p><p>Lets move on to my research. Data for this analysis was gathered from the questionnaire survey of first year students of Higher School of Economics in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. The sample used in this study includes 315 students out of 396. Students were asked 69 questions about their social status, academic environment, relationships within study group and spare time. We also used administrative information about student grade point average (GPA).</p><p>Using data on first year students we estimate pairwise regression and we obtain marginal effect of such factors as geographic closeness, socio-demographic characteristics and students&rsquo; preferences.</p><p>In addition the results say in favor of homophily by such factors as gender, grade point average, smoking and leisure preferences (sport and night clubs). We also noticed that probability of friendship is positively connected with average family income of students and average grade point.</p>