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Youseok Eom

Yonsei University · Social Sciences

About the Lab

Professor Youseok Eom's research lab specializes in the intersection of social networks, neuroscience, and aging, focusing on how social connectedness influences cognitive health and brain structure across the lifespan. The lab investigates the neural underpinnings of social behavior using neuroimaging and network analysis, particularly examining how brain regions like the orbitofrontal cortex and prefrontal cortex relate to social network size and embeddedness. A key focus is on understanding the role of social integration—especially in older adults and marginalized populations such as North Korean defectors—in maintaining cognitive function and emotional well-being. The lab also explores dyadic and triadic network dynamics, including homophily and information exchange, using both population-based surveys and in-depth qualitative methods.

social networkscognitive agingneural connectivitysocial integrationnetwork embeddedness

Research Overview

Papers
225
Total Citations
4,312
Papers (5y)
31
Primary Field
Social Sciences

Research Output Trend

Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.

Publications per year (5y)
31total
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
Citations per year (5y)
188total
20222023202420252026

Selected Papers

15
1
Article|88 citations·2014
Social network properties and self-rated health in later life: comparisons from the Korean social life, health, and aging project and the national social life, health and aging project
Yoosik Youm, Edward O. Laumann, Kenneth F. Ferraro, Linda J. Waite, Hyeon Chang Kim, Yeong-Ran Park, Sang Hui Chu, Won-tak Joo, Jina Lee
SJR Q1BMC GeriatricsOA

BACKGROUND: This paper has two objectives. Firstly, it provides an overview of the social network module, data collection procedures, and measurement of ego-centric and complete-network properties in the Korean Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (KSHAP). Secondly, it directly compares the KSHAP structure and results to the ego-centric network structure and results of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP), which conducted in-home interviews with 3,005 persons 57 to 85 ye

HealthSocial Sciences
2
Article|77 citations·2002
Social Network Effects on the Transmission of Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Yoosik Youm, Edward O. Laumann
SJR Q1Sexually Transmitted Diseases

Among people who had fewer than 13 lifetime sex partners, those with no social friends were only 0.4 times as likely to be infected as those with one or more social friends. Among people who had 13 or more lifetime partners, those with many friends (5 or 6) but weak ties to them (talking less than once a day with them) were only 0.2 times as likely to be infected as those with either fewer friends or stronger ties to their friends. Additional regressions suggest that network effects resting on d

General Health ProfessionsHealth Professions
3
Article|73 citations·2018
Social brain volume is associated with in-degree social network size among older adults
Seyul Kwak, Won-tak Joo, Yoosik Youm, Jeanyung Chey
SJR Q1Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological SciencesOA

The social brain hypothesis proposes that large neocortex size evolved to support cognitively demanding social interactions. Accordingly, previous studies have observed that larger orbitofrontal and amygdala structures predict the size of an individual's social network. However, it remains uncertain how an individual's social connectedness reported by other people is associated with the social brain volume. In this study, we found that a greater in-degree network size, a measure of social ties i

Cognitive NeuroscienceNeuroscience
4
Article|66 citations·2020
Similarity in functional brain connectivity at rest predicts interpersonal closeness in the social network of an entire village
Ryan Hyon, Yoosik Youm, Junsol Kim, Jeanyung Chey, Seyul Kwak, Carolyn Parkinson
SJR Q1Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesOA

People often have the intuition that they are similar to their friends, yet evidence for homophily (being friends with similar others) based on self-reported personality is inconsistent. Functional connectomes-patterns of spontaneous synchronization across the brain-are stable within individuals and predict how people tend to think and behave. Thus, they may capture interindividual variability in latent traits that are particularly similar among friends but that might elude self-report. Here, we

Cognitive NeuroscienceNeuroscience
5
Article|52 citations·2011
북한이탈주민의 사회연결망 형성과 유형에 대한 근거 이론 연구
염유식, 김여진

이 연구는 북한이탈주민의 사회연결망 유형에 대한 근거 이론 연구이며 이를 위하여 “북한 이주민의 정체성과 사회 적응에 대한 패널 연구”로부터 구축된 북한이탈주민에 대한 설문 자료(NKIP: North Korean Immigrant Panel)에 대한 접근을 허가받아 연구대상자를 선정하였다. 2007년에 남한에 입국한 500명의 북한이탈주민을 대상으로 한 원자료를 검토한 후, 30대에서 50대의 응답자 중 사회연결망의 크기나 남한사회만족도에 있어서 다양한 분포를 보이는 15명을 선정하였다. 이렇게 선정된 15명을 대상으로 심층면접을 통한 근거이론을 이용하여 이들의 사회연결망 유형을 파악하였다. 기존의 연구와는 다르게 사회연결망의 효과보다는 형성의 과정을 심층면접을 통하여 검토하고자 하였다. 우선 적극적으로 남한인들과 사회연결망을 형성하고자 하지만 그 범위는 매우 제한적인 유형이 발견되었다. 특히 비혼(非婚)의 자녀가 없는 여성의 경우에는 남한인 배우자를 만나기 위해 적극적인 노력을 보

6
Article|26 citations·2017
Brain functional connectivity difference in the complete network of an entire village: the role of social network size and embeddedness
Won-tak Joo, Seyul Kwak, Yoosik Youm, Jeanyung Chey
SJR Q1Scientific ReportsOA

Social networks are known to protect cognitive function in old age. For the first time, this study examines how social network size and social network embeddedness measured by k-core score are associated with functional connectivity in the brain using the complete social network of an entire village. According to the results, social network size has both positive and negative associations with functional connectivity; showing no meaningful pattern relative to distance among brain regions. Howeve

Cognitive NeuroscienceNeuroscience
7
Article|23 citations·2009
Identifying Hidden Sexual Bridging Communities in Chicago
Yoosik Youm, Mary Ellen Mackesy‐Amiti, Chyvette T. Williams, Lawrence J. Ouellet
SJR Q1Journal of Urban HealthOA
EpidemiologyMedicine
8
Article|22 citations·2019
Social Network Position Moderates the Relationship between Late-life Depressive Symptoms and Memory Differently in Men and Women
Hairin Kim, Seyul Kwak, Junsol Kim, Yoosik Youm, Jeanyung Chey
SJR Q1Scientific ReportsOA

Late-life depression has been considered to be associated with memory deficits and hippocampal volume reduction. Considering that not all depression patients undergo the same amount of cognitive impairment or regional brain volume loss, moderating factors such as complex mental activity and social activity have been examined to assess whether these factors attenuate the detrimental impact of depressive symptoms on cognitive function and regional brain volume. However, the premise that a cognitiv

Cognitive NeuroscienceNeuroscience
9
Article|21 citations·2003
The Effect of Structural Embeddedness on the Division of Household Labor: A Game-Theoretic Model Using a Network Approach
Yoosik Youm, Edward O. Laumann
SJR Q1Rationality and Society

Various economic and sociological approaches have attempted to solve the puzzle of persistent gender inequality in the division of housework, but with mixed results. We propose a game-theoretic model in which the structural embeddedness of the partners is the key contingency predicting family members' behavior. Under the condition of strong embeddedness, partners behave as if they share a unitary utility function because they can safely assume their partners' gain will be their own gain. Under t

Gender StudiesSocial Sciences
10
Article|20 citations·2021
All-cause mortality and three aspects of social relationships: an eight-year follow-up of older adults from one entire Korean village
Yoosik Youm, Ekaterina Baldina, Jiwon Baek
SJR Q1Scientific ReportsOA

Various aspects of social relationships have been examined as risk factors for mortality. In particular, most research has focused on either loneliness or social disengagement. We aimed to extend the current research by adding a group-level segregation measure utilizing the whole social network of one entire village in South Korea. The analyses were based on the Korean Social Life, Health and Aging Project data collected over eight years across five waves. Of the 679 old adults who participated

HealthSocial Sciences
11
Article|19 citations·2014
Association between skeletal muscle mass and radial augmentation index in an elderly Korean population
Seung Won Lee, Yoosik Youm, Chang Oh Kim, Won Joon Lee, Wungrak Choi, Sang Hui Chu, Yeong-Ran Park, Hyeon Chang Kim
SJR Q1Archives of Gerontology and GeriatricsOA
Cardiology and Cardiovascular MedicineMedicine
12
Article|19 citations·2007
16대 국회 보건복지위원회의 법안 가결에 관한 연결망 분석 -의원들의 중개자 역할이 법안 가결여부에 미치는 영향-
염유식

This study examined the effects of cosponsorship network on the process of legislative bill adoption at the standing committee of Public Health and Social Welfare in the 16th congress in Korea. It revealed the strong and systematic effect of brokearage position in the cosponsorship network even after controlling for individual attributes of congressmen such as age, sex, party membership, and the number of getting elected. Not all types of brorkeage, however, had influence on the adoption. Two ty

13
Book Chapter|18 citations·2005
Household Behavior and Family Economics
Yoosik Youm
Encyclopedia of Social Measurement
Gender StudiesSocial Sciences
14
Article|17 citations·2017
Contingent association between the size of the social support network and osteoporosis among Korean elderly women
Seungwon Lee, Da Hea Seo, Kyoung Min Kim, Eun Young Lee, Hyeon Chang Kim, Chang Oh Kim, Yoosik Youm, Yumie Rhee
SJR Q1PLoS ONEOA

Our results show that maintaining a large and intimate social support network is associated with a lower risk of osteoporosis among elderly Korean women, while a large but less-intimate social relationship is associated with a higher risk.

HealthSocial Sciences
15
Article|17 citations·2021
Distributed functional connectivity predicts neuropsychological test performance among older adults
Seyul Kwak, Hairin Kim, Ho‐Young Kim, Yoosik Youm, Jeanyung Chey
SJR Q1Human Brain MappingOA

Neuropsychological test is an essential tool in assessing cognitive and functional changes associated with late-life neurocognitive disorders. Despite the utility of the neuropsychological test, the brain-wide neural basis of the test performance remains unclear. Using the predictive modeling approach, we aimed to identify the optimal combination of functional connectivities that predicts neuropsychological test scores of novel individuals. Resting-state functional connectivity and neuropsycholo

Cognitive NeuroscienceNeuroscience

Research Areas

HealthGeneral Health ProfessionsExperimental and Cognitive PsychologySociology and Political ScienceCognitive NeurosciencePublic Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

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