Partner Naming and Forgetting: Recall of Network Members

Network researchers must contend with recall, forgetting, alters whose names are not known, and other potential biases in estimating the size of personal (ego) networks. We use data from a longitudinal study of sexual and drug use ego networks. Results show 6% forgetting for 30-day sex partners, 18% for drug use partners, and 26% for close friends. Forgetting is decreased by behavioral specificity and salience. Forgetting increases with network size and time frame. In the domain of sex relationships, global estimates of network size, at least over a period of 30 days, are equivalent to estimates from partner naming 92% of the time if anonymous partners are accounted for.