Multiplex mapping of social roles in isolated Honduran village networks.

In multiplex sociocentric networks from 23,378 people across 176 rural Honduran villages, outgoing behavioral roles and incoming structural roles show distinct organization, with weaker demographic links but stronger geographic structure for outgoing ties.

• Why it matters: Social networks mix multiple relationship types that compete for limited time and resources, but role inference across directed multiplex layers is difficult, especially when activity and layer density vary by domain.
• What they did: The study uses a compositional framework to infer functional roles in directed multiplex networks, separating outgoing ties (social effort allocation) from incoming ties (structural dependence/social appeal) while accounting for heterogeneity in activity levels and layer density.
• The result: Friendship, health-related support, and economic interactions yield well-defined role structures; outgoing roles show weaker demographic association and stronger geographic organization, while incoming roles show more pronounced life-course transitions and socioeconomic differentiation with little geographic association.