Research
RESEARCH INTERESTS
| Social Networks | Social Psychology |
| Medical Sociology & Mental Health | Aging and the Life Course |
| Stratification (Gender/Sexuality, Race/Ethnicity, & Class) | Singlehood, Marriage & Family |
GRANTS ($15.5 M)
| PI ($1.5 M) | |
| 2024-26 | National Institute on Aging (NIA), National Institutes of Health (NIH). “National Study of Older Never-Married Adults” (NSONMA). R56AG089170. ($1,359,657). |
| 2024-26 | Scaling Success Grant, VU. “National Study of Older Never-Married Adults” (NSONMA). ($76,321). |
| 2022-23 | Dean’s Research Studio Grant, College of Arts and Science, VU. ($5,000) |
| 2021-22 | Mellon Faculty Fellowship in Digital Humanities, Center for Digital Humanities, VU. “Online Social Support among the Isolated and Lonely: Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.” ($10,000 plus one-course buyout) |
| 2021 | Seeding Success Grant, VU. “Cutting-Edge Network-Based Research Purposes: Social Cost, and Single and Living Alone Status.” (One-course buyout) |
| 2021 | Strong Faculty Grant, VU. “Social Isolation and Health.” ($2,000) |
| 2020-21 | Scholar Grant, Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange. “Does Who You Know Protect or Hurt? A Test of Social Capital Theory versus Social Cost Theory in Taiwan.” ($20,000) |
| 2019 | Data Science Institute Mini Grant, VU. “Does Who You Know in the Status Hierarchy Protect or Hurt? Evidence from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health.” ($1,300) |
| 2019 | Global Research & Engagement Micro-Grant, VU. “One Trip to China, Two Purposes to Achieve.” ($4,650) |
| 2015-17 | Research Grant, Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange. “Institutional Contingency of Network Embeddedness of Class Identification: Network Members’ Occupational Status and Subjective Social Class in Three Societies.” ($30,000) |
| 2012-13 | Research Scholar Fellowship, Research Scholar Grant, VU. “A Tale of Multiple Social Capitals and Adolescent Health.” (Sabbatical funding) |
| 2010 | Summer Stipend Award, Research Scholar Grant, VU. “The Older, The Stronger: The Interaction Effect of Social Capital with Age on Psychological Distress.” ($6,000) |
| 2007-08 | Summer Research Fellowship, Asian/Pacific Studies Institute, Duke University. “Your Body Knows Who You Know: Social Capital and Health Inequality in Urban China.” ($2,500) |
| 2007-08 | Graduate Award for Research and Training in Global Health, Duke University Center for International Studies. “Your Body Knows Who You Know: Social Capital and Health Inequality in Urban China.” ($1,000) |
| 2002-03 | Youth Scholar Fellowship, Research Group of Developing Women and Gender Studies’ Courses, Ford Foundation. “Gender Stratification in Status Attainment.” (￥5,000 (CNY)) |
| Co-I ($14 M) | |
| 2025-30 (pending) | PI: Zhijun Yin. NIA, NIH. “Using Online Collective Knowledge to Support Unpaid Informal Alzheimer’s Disease or Related Dementia Caregivers.” ($4,006,472). |
| 2024-29 | PI: Terrin N. Tamati. NIA, NIH. “Social Networks for Optimizing Communication Ability in Adult Cochlear Implant Users.” 1R01AG089200-01. ($3,233,312) |
| 2024-26 | PI: Zhijun Yin. National Cancer Institute (NCI), NIH. “Predicting Anti-cancer Medication Discontinuation via Patient Portal Communications and Structured Medical Records.” 1R37CA237452-01A1. ($735,163) |
| 2024-25 | Co-PIs: Ellen Wright Clayton and Bradley A. Malin. “Genetic Privacy and Identity in Community Settings.” Centers of Excellence in ELSI (Ethical, Legal and Social Implications) Research (CEER) Program, National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), NIH. 3RM1HG009034-08S1. ($82,563) |
| 2020-24 | PI: Zhijun Yin. NCI, NIH. “Predicting Anti-cancer Medication Discontinuation via Patient Portal Communications and Structured Medical Records.” 1R37CA237452-00A1. ($1,563,494) |
| 2020-24 | Co-PIs: Ellen Wright Clayton and Bradley A. Malin. CEER Program, NHGRI, NIH. “Genetic Privacy and Identity in Community Settings.” 5RM1HG009034-08. ($4,233,599) |
| 2016-20 | Co-PIs: Ellen Wright Clayton and Bradley A. Malin. CEER Program, NHGRI, NIH. “Genetic Privacy and Identity in Community Settings.” 5RM1HG009034-04. ($4,012,641) |
| 2016-18 | Co-PIs: Ellen Wright Clayton, Bradley A. Malin, and Yevgeniy Vorobeychik. Vanderbilt Initiative Awards (VIA), TIPS (Trans-institutional Programs), VU. “Towards a Trans-Disciplinary Program on Data Science Policy.” ($199,218) |
PUBLICATIONS
(underline: student or postdoctoral co-authors)
Books
Ronald S. Burt, Yanjie Bian, Lijun Song, and Nan Lin (eds.). 2019. Social Capital, Social Support and Stratification: An Analysis of the Sociology of Nan Lin. London: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Edward Elgar Online
Book Cover and Introductory Pages
Edited Volumes
Quan D. Mai, Lijun Song, and Rachel Donnelly (guest co-editors). 2023. Work and Occupations, Volume 50: Issues 1 and 2. “Precarious Employment and Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic.”
Refereed Articles
Ni, Congning, Qingyuan Song, Qingxia Chen, Lijun Song, Patricia Commiskey, Lauren Stratton, Bradley Malin, and Zhijun Yin. 2024. “Sentiment Dynamics Among Informal Caregivers in Online Alzheimer’s Communities: A Systematic Analysis of Emotional Support and Interaction Patterns.” Journal of Medical Internet Research Aging 7: e60050.
Qingyuan Song, Congning Ni, Jeremy L. Warner, Qingxia Chen, Lijun Song, S. Trent Rosenbloom, Bradley A. Malin., and Zhijun Yin. 2024. “Optimizing Word Embeddings for Small Datasets: A Case Study on Patient Portal Messages from Breast Cancer Patients: Survey Study.” Scientific Reports 14(1): 16117.
Yin, Zhijun, Lauren Stratton, Qingyuan Song, Congning Ni, Lijun Song, Patricia Commiskey, Qingxia Chen, Monica Moreno, Sam Fazio, and Bradley A. Malin. 2024. “Perceptions and Utilization of Online Peer Support Among Informal Dementia Caregivers: Survey Study.” Journal of Medical Internet Research 7: e55169.
Ni, Congning, Qingyuan Song, Bradley A. Malin, Lijun Song, Patricia Commiskey, Laura Stratton, and Zhijun Yin. 2023. “Examining Online Behaviors of Adult-Child and Spousal Caregivers for People Living with Alzheimer’s Disease or Related Dementias: A Comparative Study in an Open Online Community.” Journal of Medical Internet Research 25: e48193.
Quan D. Mai, Lijun Song, and Rachel Donnelly. 2023. “Precarious Employment and Well-Being: Insights from the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Work and Occupations 50(1): 3-21.
Ni, Congning, Bradley A. Malin, Lijun Song, Angela L. Jefferson, and Zhijun Yin. 2022. “‘Rough Day … Need a Hug’: Learning Challenges and Experiences of the Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementia Caregivers on Reddit.” Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media 16(1): 711-722.
Song, Lijun, Philip J. Pettis, Yvonne Chen, and Marva V. Goodson-Miller. 2021. “Social Cost and Health: The Downside of Social Relationships and Social Networks.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 62(3): 371-87 (Special Issue: Findings, Challenges, and Future Directions in Medical Sociology).
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Dean, Derek J., Ivy F. Tso, Anne Giersch, Hyeon-Seung Lee, Tatiana Baxter, Taylor Griffith, Lijun Song, and Sohee Park. 2021. “Cross-Cultural Comparisons of Psychosocial Distress in the USA, South Korea, France, and Hong Kong during the initial phase of COVID-19.” Psychiatry Research 295.
Journal Website
Song, Lijun. 2020. “Social Capital, Social Cost, and Relational Culture in Three Societies.” Social Psychology Quarterly 83(4): 443-462. * Best Publication Award, Sociology of Mental Health Section, American Sociological Association.
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Yin, Zhijun, Lijun Song, Ellen W. Clayton, and Bradley A. Malin. 2020. “Health and Kinship Matter: Learning About Direct-To-Consumer Genetic Testing Users’ Experiences via Online Discussions.” PLOS One 15(9): e0238644.
Journal Website
Song, Lijun. 2020. Review of Guanxi: How China Works? by Yanjie Bian. Social Forces 98(4).
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Song, Lijun and Philip J. Pettis. 2020. “Does Whom You Know in the Status Hierarchy Prevent or Trigger Health Limitation? Institutional Embeddedness of Social Capital and Social Cost Theories in Three Societies.” Social Science & Medicine 257.
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Hao, Feng and Lijun Song. 2020. “Environmental Concern in China: A Multilevel Analysis.” Chinese Sociological Review 52(1): 1-26.
Journal Website
Song, Lijun, Philip J. Pettis, and Bhumika Piya. 2017. “Does Your Body Know Who You Know? Multiple Roles of Network Members’ Socioeconomic Status for Body Weight Ratings.” Sociological Perspectives 66(6): 997-1018. Editor’s Pick.
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Sociological Perspectives Podcast
Yin, Zhijun, Lijun Song, and Bradley A. Malin. 2017. “Reciprocity and Its Association with Treatment Adherence in an Online Breast Cancer Forum.” 2017 IEEE 30th International Symposium on Computer-Based Medical Systems (CBMS): 618-623.
Song, Lijun. 2015. “Does Knowing People in the Positional Hierarchy Protect or Hurt? Social Capital, Comparative Reference Group, and Depression in Two Societies.” Social Science & Medicine 136-137: 117-127.
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Song, Lijun. 2015. “Does Knowing People in Authority Protect or Hurt? Authoritative Contacts and Depression in Urban China.” American Behavioral Scientist 59(9): 1173-1188.
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Song, Lijun. 2014. “Is Unsolicited Support Protective or Destructive in Collectivistic Culture? Receipt of Unsolicited Job Leads in Urban China.” Society and Mental Health 4(3): 235-54.
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Song, Lijun and Wenhong Chen. 2014. “Does Receiving Unsolicited Support Help or Hurt? Receipt of Unsolicited Job Leads and Depression.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 55(2): 144-60.
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Vanderbilt University at YouTube
Song, Lijun. 2013. “Institutional Embeddedness of Network Embeddedness in the Workplace: Social Integration at Work and Employee’s Health across Three Societies.” Research in the Sociology of Work 24 (Networks, Employment and Inequality): 323-56.
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Song, Lijun and Tian-Yun Chang. 2012. “Do Resources of Network Members Help in Help Seeking? Social Capital and Health Information Search.” Social Networks 34(4):658-69.
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Song, Lijun. 2012. “Raising Network Resources While Raising Children? Access to Social Capital by Parenthood Status, Gender, and Marital Status.” Social Networks 34(2):241-52.
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Song, Lijun. 2011. “Social Capital and Psychological Distress.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 52(4): 478-92.
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Song, Lijun. 2009. “The Effect of the Cultural Revolution on Educational Homogamy in Urban China.” Social Forces 88(1): 257-70. *Best Graduate Student Paper Award, Asia and Asian America Section, American Sociological Association.
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Song, Lijun and Nan Lin. 2009. “Social Capital and Health Inequality: Evidence from Taiwan.” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 50(2): 149-63.
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Reprinted in Nan Lin (ed.). 2010. Social Capital: Critical Concepts in the Social Sciences. Volume 4. London: Routledge.
Lin, Nan, Yanlong Zhang, Wenhong Chen, Dan Ao, and Lijun Song. 2009. “Recruiting and Deploying Social Capital in Organizations: Theory and Evidence.” Research in the Sociology of Work 18 (Work and Organizations in China): 225-51.
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Song, Lijun. 2003. “The Field Investigation of Rustic Women in the Urban-Rural Co-Joint Areas—Underprivileged Groups’ Acquisition of Economic Resources in Particular Geographic Context.” Women’s Academy at Shandong 2: 16-20. (In Chinese)
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Song, Lijun and Juren Lin. 2003. “Gender Difference on Occupational Status Attainment.” Journal of Anhui Agricultural University (social science edition) 12 (2): 70-4. (In Chinese)
Book Chapters
Song, Lijun and Zhe Zhang. Forthcoming. “Accessed Status and Mental Well-Being: Competing Theories.” The Sociological Study of Mental Health: Theories, Contexts, and Systems (4th edition), edited by Teresa L. Scheid and Eric Wright. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Song, Lijun and Zhe Zhang. 2023. “Social Support.” Pp. 322-35 in The SAGE Handbook of Social Network Analysis, edited by John McLevey, John Scott, and Peter J. Carrington. London: SAGE.
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Hao, Feng, Lijun Song, and Yvonne Chen. 2022. “Environmental Concern in China: Mediating Effects of Generalized Trust and Social Integration.” Pp. 341-68 in Social Inequalities in China, edited by Yaojun Li and Yanjie Bian. World Scientific Publishing.
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Song, Lijun and Yvonne Chen. 2021. “Social Capital and Health.” Pp. 192-214 in The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Medical Sociology, edited by William C. Cockerham. Oxford, UK: Wiley- Blackwell.
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Song, Lijun. 2019. “Nan Lin and Social Support.” Pp. 78-106 in Social Capital, Social Support and Stratification: An Analysis of the Sociology of Nan Lin, edited by R.S. Burt, Y. Bian, L. Song, and N. Lin. London: Edward Elgar Publishing.
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Yin, Zhijun, Jeremy Warner, Lijun Song, Pei-Yun Hsueh, Ching-Hua Chen, and Bradley Malin. 2019. “Learning Hormonal Therapy Medication Adherence from an Online Breast Cancer Forum.” Pp. 233-257 in Social Web and Health Research: Benefits, Limitations, and Best Practices, edited by J. Bian, Y. Guo, Z. He, and X. Hu. Springer International.
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Song, Lijun, Cleothia Frazier, and Philip J. Pettis. 2018. “Do Network Members’ Resources Generate Health Inequality? Social Capital Theory and Beyond.” Pp. 233-253 in Elgar Companion to Social Capital and Health, edited by S. Folland and E. Nauenberg. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.
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Song, Lijun, Rachel Skaggs, and Cleothia Frazier. 2017. “Educational Homogamy.” Pp. 108-124 in Handbook on the Family and Marriage in China, edited by Xiaowei Zang and Lucy Xia Zhao. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.
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Song, Lijun. 2014. “Social Capital.” Pp. 2143-48 in The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Health, Illness, Behavior, and Society, edited by William Carl Cockerham, Robert Dingwall, and Stella Quah. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
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Song, Lijun. 2014. “Bright and Dark Sides of Who You Know in the Evaluation of Well-Being: Social Capital and Life Satisfaction across Three Societies.” Pp. 259-78 in Social Capital and Its Institutional Contingency: A Study of the United States, Taiwan and China, edited by Nan Lin, Yang-Chih Fu, and Chih-Jou Chen. London: Routledge.
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Song, Lijun. 2013. “Social Capital and Health.” Pp.223-57 in Medical Sociology on the Move: New Directions in Theory, edited by William Carl Cockerham. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Springer.
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Song, Lijun, Joonmo Son, and Nan Lin. 2011. “Social Support.” Pp. 116-128 in The SAGE Handbook of Social Network Analysis, edited by John Scott and Peter J. Carrington. London: SAGE.
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Song, Lijun and Nan Lin. 2011. “Social Capital and Health: An Introduction.” Pp. 229-31 in Social Capital: Critical Concepts in the Social Sciences, edited by Nan Lin. Volume 3. New York: Routledge.
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Song, Lijun, Joonmo Son, and Nan Lin. 2010. “Social Capital and Health.” Pp. 184-210 in The New Companion to Medical Sociology, edited by William C. Cockerham. Oxford, UK: Wiley- Blackwell.
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Lin, Nan, Dan Ao, and Lijun Song. 2009. “Production and Returns of Social Capital: Evidence from Urban China.” Pp. 107-32 in Contexts of Social Capital: Social Networks in Communities, Markets and Organizations, edited by Ray-May Hsung, Nan Lin, and Ronald Breiger. New York: Routledge.
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Lin, Juren and Lijun Song. 2006. “Social Mobility of Residents in Shandong Province.” Pp. 145-66 in Contemporary Social Development Studies, edited by Zhonghua He and Juren Lin. Jinan: Shandong People’s Publishing House. (In Chinese)
Lin, Juren and Lijun Song. 2004. “Women’s Educational Status and Educated Opportunities.” Pp. 123-63 in Survey Research on Women’s Social Status in Shandong: 1990-2000, edited by Yulan Zhao, Xingyu Ji, and Ping Zhuang. Beijing: Chinese Women Publishing House. (In Chinese)
Song, Lijun and Xue Xia. 2003. “Sex Inequality in Employment and Income.” Pp.149-76 in Multiple Perspectives on Gender, edited by Juren Lin. Guangzhou: Yangcheng Evening Paper Publishing House. (In Chinese)
Ni, Anru and Lijun Song. 2003. “Gender Difference in Social Capital Attainment—A New Perspective for Interpreting the Traditional Gender Division of Labor.” Pp. 410-21 in Women’s Social Status in China at the Turn of the Century, edited by Yongping Jiang. Beijing: Contemporary China Publishing House. (In Chinese).
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Translations (into Chinese)
Lin, Juren, Peng Wang, and Lijun Song. 2009. Randall Collins, Interaction Ritual Chains. Beijing: The Commercial Press.
Lin, Juren, Zhongming Ge, Lijun Song, Peng Wang, and Yuxi Xie. 2006. Jonathan H. Turner, Macrodynamics: Toward a Theory on the Organization of Human Populations. Beijing: Peking University Press.
Lin, Juren, Ping Zhao, and Lijun Song. 2001. Michael Mulkay, Science and the Sociology of Knowledge. Beijing: Oriental Publishing House.
Wang, Peng and Lijun Song. 2000. Jonathan H. Turner, “A Theory of Embedded Encounters” in Advances in Group Processes 17: 285-322. Foreign Sociology 6: 54-64.
Newsletter Articles
Song, Lijun. 2008. Pop Finance: Investment Clubs and the Investor Populism. Brooke Harrington (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2008). Accounts: A Newsletter of Economic Sociology. Volume 7, issue 3.
Song, Lijun. 2008. Managing Network Resources: Alliances, Affiliations, and Other Relational Assets. Ranjay Gulati (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007). Accounts: A Newsletter of Economic Sociology. Volume 7, issue 2.
Song, Lijun. 2007. “China in Transition: An Interview with Victor Nee.” Accounts: A Newsletter of Economic Sociology. Volume 7, issue 1.
WORKS IN PROGRESS
Books
Song, Lijun. Social Cost: A Structural Network Theory.