Impact of Homophily in Adherence to Anti-Epidemic Measures on the Spread of Infectious Diseases in Social Networks.

ABSTRACT: We investigate how homophily in adherence to anti-epidemic measures affects the final size of epidemics in social networks. Using a modified SIR model, we divide agents into two behavioral groups-compliant and non-compliant-and introduce transmission probabilities that depend asymmetrically on the behavior of both the infected and susceptible individuals. We simulate epidemic dynamics on two types of synthetic networks with tunable inter-group connection probability: stochastic block models (SBM) and networks with triadic closure (TC) that better capture local clustering. Our main result reveals a counterintuitive effect: under conditions where compliant infected agents significantly reduce transmission, increasing the separation between groups may lead to a higher fraction of infections i

SUBMITTER: Bentkowski P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12564538 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature