Social Support Network from the UMC Clergy Health Initiative
Social network data from the Clergy Health Initiative are helping researchers understand how unique the United Methodist Church’s clergy are as a community of social support in several ways. In this memo, our research team outlines three key takeaways about the social support network of UMC clergy in North Carolina. We also describe a few questions that we plan to answer as we continue to obtain this important data from members of the UMC clergy community.
1. Many Supportive Ties
Members of the clergy responding to the CHI survey are asked about the other clergy-members they turn to for social support. The vast majority of clergy named at least one support tie, and many clergy named several key support ties. The figure below depicts the network of support ties amongst NC UMC clergy-members in 2021. Each circle, or “node,” is one clergy-member. Each line, or “edge,” is a support connection reported by a member of the clergy. Larger nodes represent clergy-members who are nominated more often as support providers by other clergy members. Nodes are colored by conference membership.
2. Clergy Connect when Needing or Giving Support
Most social networks have a tendency to exhibit “homophily” - more connections between people who share social identity categories (e.g., gender), physical health traits (e.g., hypertension), and self-reported indicators of stress and mental health (e.g., flourishing) than change would predict. North Carolina UMC clergy often form support ties to people who are demographically similar to them, and to clergy members who share their conference. However, the opposite is true for indicators of stress and anxiety. There is a greater prevalence of people who are connected to dissimilar others in terms of self-reported stress and anxiety in the NC UMC clergy network.
In other words, UMC clergy tend to share support ties with colleagues far more often when their colleagues are experiencing different levels of satisfaction or distress related to their efforts as members of the clergy. This makes the NC UMC network unique: people form ties in ways that are associated with their needs and concerns of their colleagues - a property that is suggestive of a network that reflects the beneficence, community-mindedness, and proactive help-seeking and supportive behaviors of its members.
3. More Support Ties, More Job Satisfaction
Even though people tend to report ties that do not match their current degree of stress or anxiety, clergy-members who name more peers as social support ties might be more likely to report higher levels of job satisfaction and a sense of flourishing compared to clergy-members who name fewer social support ties.
This result suggests that seeking social support works: those who are able to make more connections with fellow clergy-members appear to be more satisfied with their life in ministry. However, the number of ties tend to vary by clergy type. For example, local pastors often have one fewer connection than all other members of the social support network - perhaps due to the challenges of making and maintaining ties because of the unique challenges of their vital role in the Church. Moreover, the benefits of seeking support ties appear to be smaller for local pastors by almost 50%. In other words, a local pastor needs to establish twice as many support ties to obtain the same benefits in flourishing and job satisfaction that other clergy-members get from their support ties.
Our team will continue to explore the data to learn more about the needs of UMC clergy, and to understand how to best support the mental and physical well-being of this unique and important community.
Social Support Network from the UMC Clergy Health Initiative
Social network data from the Clergy Health Initiative are helping researchers understand how unique the United Methodist Church’s clergy are as a community of social support in several ways. In this memo, our research team outlines three key takeaways about the social support network of UMC clergy in North Carolina. We also describe a few questions that we plan to answer as we continue to obtain this important data from members of the UMC clergy community.
1. Many Supportive Ties
Members of the clergy responding to the CHI survey are asked about the other clergy-members they turn to for social support. The vast majority of clergy named at least one support tie, and many clergy named several key support ties. The figure below depicts the network of support ties amongst NC UMC clergy-members in 2021. Each circle, or “node,” is one clergy-member. Each line, or “edge,” is a support connection reported by a member of the clergy. Larger nodes represent clergy-members who are nominated more often as support providers by other clergy members. Nodes are colored by conference membership.
2. Clergy Connect when Needing or Giving Support
Most social networks have a tendency to exhibit “homophily” - more connections between people who share social identity categories (e.g., gender), physical health traits (e.g., hypertension), and self-reported indicators of stress and mental health (e.g., flourishing) than change would predict. North Carolina UMC clergy often form support ties to people who are demographically similar to them, and to clergy members who share their conference. However, the opposite is true for indicators of stress and anxiety. There is a greater prevalence of people who are connected to dissimilar others in terms of self-reported stress and anxiety in the NC UMC clergy network.
In other words, UMC clergy tend to share support ties with colleagues far more often when their colleagues are experiencing different levels of satisfaction or distress related to their efforts as members of the clergy. This makes the NC UMC network unique: people form ties in ways that are associated with their needs and concerns of their colleagues - a property that is suggestive of a network that reflects the beneficence, community-mindedness, and proactive help-seeking and supportive behaviors of its members.
3. More Support Ties, More Job Satisfaction
Even though people tend to report ties that do not match their current degree of stress or anxiety, clergy-members who name more peers as social support ties might be more likely to report higher levels of job satisfaction and a sense of flourishing compared to clergy-members who name fewer social support ties.
This result suggests that seeking social support works: those who are able to make more connections with fellow clergy-members appear to be more satisfied with their life in ministry. However, the number of ties tend to vary by clergy type. For example, local pastors often have one fewer connection than all other members of the social support network - perhaps due to the challenges of making and maintaining ties because of the unique challenges of their vital role in the Church. Moreover, the benefits of seeking support ties appear to be smaller for local pastors by almost 50%. In other words, a local pastor needs to establish twice as many support ties to obtain the same benefits in flourishing and job satisfaction that other clergy-members get from their support ties.
Our team will continue to explore the data to learn more about the needs of UMC clergy, and to understand how to best support the mental and physical well-being of this unique and important community.