Sociometric network analysis in illicit drugs research: A scoping review Scoping review of social networks and illicit drugs

Abstract

The current scoping review sought to describe and examine how whole network or sociometric SNA methods have been used in illicit drugs research to reflect on and discuss the ways in which such methods can be used for future research. Overall, our quantitative summary shows that such studies have grown in popularity in the last ten years (2010-2021), are mostly from the U.S., and use quantitative methods. Upon a closer analysis of studies, our findings also show that whole network SNA has been used in three main study domains: drug crimes, public health and social support, and, to a lesser exte