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James Moody
The results showed that, unlike many adult networks, there was no core group
of very sexually active people at the high school. There were not many
students who had many partners and who provided links to the rest of the
community.
Instead, the romantic and sexual network at the school created long chains
of connections that spread out through the community, with few places where
students directly shared the same partners with each other. But they were
indirectly linked, partner to partner to partner. One component of the
network linked 288 students – more than half of those who were romantically
active at the school – in one long chain. (See figure for a representation
of the network.)
James Moody, co-author of the study and professor of sociology at Ohio State
University, said this network could be compared to rural phone lines,
running from a long main trunk line to individual houses. As a comparison,
many adult sexual networks are more like an airline hub system where many
points are connected to a small number of hubs.
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