Multiplex mapping of social roles in isolated Honduran village networks
- 1Department of Sociology, Human Nature Lab, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511
- 2Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby 2800, Denmark
- 3Department of Sociology, Copenhagen Center for Social Data Science, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen 1357, Denmark
Abstract
Human social networks involve multiple kinds of relationships—such as friendship, health support, and economic exchange—that serve different functions and compete for limited time and resources. Here, we deploy a compositional framework to infer functional roles in directed multiplex networks. We distinguish outgoing ties that reflect social behavior of individuals’ allocation of social effort from incoming ties that capture structural dependence, or social appeal. The method accounts for heterogeneity in individual activity levels and layer density across relational domains. Applying this approach to multiplex sociocentric network data from 23,378 individuals across 176 rural Honduran villages, we uncover well-defined role structures spanning friendship, health-related support, and economic interactions. We find a pronounced asymmetry: behavioral (outgoing) roles exhibit weaker demographic association but stronger geographic organization than incoming roles. This is consistent with shared local environments at the village-wide level shaping social action. In contrast, structural (incoming) roles show more pronounced life-course transitions and socioeconomic differentiation, with little geographic association. Taken together, these patterns reveal a systematic difference in how social behavior and social appeal are organized in multiplex social systems. This approach illustrates a general framework for studying social roles, inequality, and life-course dynamics in complex social systems.
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BibTeX
@article{nakis2026multiplex,
title = {{Multiplex mapping of social roles in isolated Honduran village networks}},
author = {Nikolaos Nakis and Sune Lehmann and Morten Mørup and Nicholas A. Christakis},
journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1073/pnas.2610932123},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2610932123},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Multiplex mapping of social roles in isolated Honduran village networks
AU - Nikolaos Nakis
AU - Sune Lehmann
AU - Morten Mørup
AU - Nicholas A. Christakis
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/28
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
DO - 10.1073/pnas.2610932123
UR - https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2610932123
AB - Human social networks involve multiple kinds of relationships—such as friendship, health support, and economic exchange—that serve different functions and compete for limited time and resources. Here, we deploy a compositional framework to infer functional roles in directed multiplex networks. We distinguish outgoing ties that reflect social behavior of individuals’ allocation of social effort from incoming ties that capture structural dependence, or social appeal. The method accounts for heterogeneity in individual activity levels and layer density across relational domains. Applying this approach to multiplex sociocentric network data from 23,378 individuals across 176 rural Honduran villages, we uncover well-defined role structures spanning friendship, health-related support, and economic interactions. We find a pronounced asymmetry: behavioral (outgoing) roles exhibit weaker demographic association but stronger geographic organization than incoming roles. This is consistent with shared local environments at the village-wide level shaping social action. In contrast, structural (incoming) roles show more pronounced life-course transitions and socioeconomic differentiation, with little geographic association. Taken together, these patterns reveal a systematic difference in how social behavior and social appeal are organized in multiplex social systems. This approach illustrates a general framework for studying social roles, inequality, and life-course dynamics in complex social systems.
SN - 0027-8424
SN - 1091-6490
ER -