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Mothers' Social Networks and Socioeconomic Gradients of Isolation

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Abstract
Social connections are fundamental to human wellbeing. This paper examines the social networks of young married women in rural Odisha, India. This is a group, for whom highly-gendered norms around marriage, mobility, and work are likely to shape opportunities to form and maintain meaningful ties with other women. We track the social networks of 2,170 mothers over four years, and find a high degree of isolation. Wealthier women and women more-advantaged castes have smaller social networks than their less-advantaged peers. These gradients are primarily driven by the fact that more-advantaged women are less likely to know other women within their same socioeconomic group than are less-advantaged women are. There exists strong homophily by socioeconomic status that is symmetric across socioeconomic groups. Mediation analysis shows that SES differences in social isolation are strongly associated to caste, ownership of toilets and distance. Further research should investigate the formation and role of female networks.

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  • Alison Andrew & Orazio P. Attanasio & Britta Augsburg & Jere Behrman & Monimalika Day & Pamela Jervis & Costas Meghir & Angus Phimister, 2020. "Mothers' Social Networks and Socioeconomic Gradients of Isolation," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2261, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    • Handle: RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:2261
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    2. Abhijit Banerjee & Esther Duflo & Erin Grela & Madeline McKelway & Frank Schilbach & Garima Sharma & Girija Vaidyanathan, 2022. "Depression and Loneliness Among the Elderly Poor," NBER Working Papers 30330, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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    JEL classification:

    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • D71 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Social Choice; Clubs; Committees; Associations
    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development
    • O35 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Social Innovation

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