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The Sociotype, a New Conceptual Construct on Human Social Networks: Application in Mental Health and Quality of Life

The present work discusses the pertinence of a 'sociotype' construct, both theoretically and empirically oriented. The term, based on the conceptual chain genotype-phenotype-sociotype, suggests an evolutionary preference in the human species for some determined averages of social relationships. This core pattern or 'sociotype' has been explored herein for the networking relationships of young people--165 university students filling in a 20-items questionnaire on their social interactions. In spite that this is a preliminary study, interesting results have been obtained on gender conversation time, mental health, sociability level, and satisfaction with personal relationships. This sociotype hypothesis could be a timely enterprise for mental health and quality of life policies.