Social capital and health: a meta-analysis (original) (raw)
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A meta-analysis of social capital and health: A case for needed research
Journal of Health Psychology, 2013
Social capital refers to various levels of social relationships formed through social networks. Measurement differences have lead to imprecise measurement. A meta-analysis of eligible studies assessing the bivariate association between social capital and self-reported health and all-cause mortality was performed. Thirtynine studies met inclusion criteria, showing social capital increased odds of good health by 27 percent (95% confidence intervals [CI] =21%, 34%). Social capital variables, reciprocity increased odds of good health by 39 percent (95% CI = 21%, 60%) and trust by 32 percent (95% CI =19%, 46%). Future research suggests operationalizing measures by assessing differences by race/ethnicity, gender and socioeconomic status.
Social capital and health: A systematic review of systematic reviews
SSM - Population Health, 2019
There are many systematic reviews on social capital (SC) and various health outcomes, but each of these reviews shows one piece of the larger SC and health puzzle. The aim of this research was to systematically review systematic reviews on SC and health, in order to provide an overview of existing evidence and to identify strategies for future research. Nine databases were searched for key words that could fall under the broad umbrella of SC and health outcomes. We screened 4941 titles and abstracts and read 187 reviews before retaining 20 of them. A critical appraisal of each review was conducted. The reviews show there is good evidence to suggest that SC predicts better mental and physical health, and indicators of SC are protective against mortality. At the same time, many reviews also found numerous non-significant and negative relationships that are important to consider. It was unclear whether SC interventions for health were really improving SC, or other aspects of the social environment. Overall, this research shows that evidence on how various aspects of SC affect different health outcomes for different actors remains unclear. Intergroup and lifecourse perspectives could help clarify this link. Future research could benefit from conceptualizing the link between SC and health in a what, who, where, when, why and how framework.
Social capital and mental health: An interdisciplinary review of primary evidence
Social Science & Medicine, 2005
An interdisciplinary interrogation of primary evidence linking social capital and mental health sought to establish: (1) 'quality of evidence' (assessed in terms of study design, methods used to address stated questions, rigor of data analysis, and logic and clarity of interpretation of results), and (2) applicability of the evidence to public health policy and practice with respect to mental health. It is found that social capital, a complex and compound construct, can be both an asset and a liability with respect to mental health of those in receipt of and those providing services and other interventions. The most meaningful assessment of social capital or components thereof may examine individual access to rather than possession of social capital, a property of groups, and therefore an ecological variable. Theoretical advances in research on social capital serve to identify mainly two types of social capital: bonding (between individuals in a group) and bridging (between groups). Each type of social capital has cognitive and/or structural component(s) and may operate at micro and/or macro level(s). Effective mental health policy and service provision may build or strengthen bridging social capital and benefit from both bonding and bridging social capital where either or both exist. Established indicators of social capital are amenable to quantitative and qualitative assessment, preferably in tandem. However studies that employ combined research design are rare or non-existent. Interdisciplinary multi-method investigations and analyses are called for in order to unravel mechanisms whereby social capital and mental health might be meaningfully associated. r
The Importance of Different Forms of Social Capital for Health
Acta Sociologica, 2007
The aim of this article is to provide an overview of the concept of social capital and to distinguish its different forms, focusing on their potential effects on health. According to many scholars, social capital comprises social networks, norms of reciprocity or social support and social trust. In this article the core element, the social network, has been further distinguished by the direction of ties and levels of formality, strength and diversity. In the past few years there has been increased interest in social capital in the health field and a great deal of research has suggested that social capital is generally positively related to health. However, little research has been conducted into how different forms of social capital or social networks influence health. What is the difference, for instance, between bonding and bridging social capital in terms of health outcomes? It is important to distinguish the different forms because they imply different resources, support and obligations. More research needs to be conducted into the different forms of social capital and their effects on health. A special focus should be placed on the health impacts of cross-cutting-or bridging and linking-forms of social capital. keywords: bonding social capital ◆ bridging social capital ◆ cross-cutting social capital ◆ health ◆ linking social capital ◆ medical sociology ◆ social networks
Social Resources and Health: The Case of Social Capital
EC Psychology and Psychiatry, 2019
According to the literature, social capital has a great range of beneficial effects in many levels from society to individuals. Higher levels of social capital are positively related to better financial performance at local and national level [9,10]. They also related to social cohesion by contributing to lower indices of criminality [11,12]. Additionally, it is associated with educational attainment [13] and achievement [14] that are key factors for the promotion of social prosperity. During the last decades it has been formed a strong tradition in psychology research concerning the effects of the social context on health. The study of the effect of social recourses (e.g. social support, mutual connections) on physical and mental health is very important and it may lead to key answers about their role in the incidence, prevalence and prevention of illness. Among a number of approaches, social capital theory has been vaunted as an approach that may foster the connections and interactions between social environment and health indices [1].
2013
Social capital covers different characteristics such as social networks, social participation, social support and trust. The aim of this study was to explore which aspects of social capital were predictive of mortality. Criteria for inclusion in the meta-analysis were: population based observational cohort studies (follow-up C5 years); study sample included the adult population; parts of social capital as the primary exposure variable of interest; reported a mortality outcome; and sample size[1,000 individuals. Twenty studies provided eligible data for the meta-analyses. A random effect model was used to estimate the combined overall hazard rate ratio effects of structural social capital such as social participation and social networks, and cognitive social capital including social support and trust in relation to mortality. The results showed that social participation and social networks were negatively associated with mortality. The impact of social networks attenuated somewhat when controlling for gender and age. While trust also appeared to be negatively associated with mortality, we remain cautious with this conclusion, since only two studies provided eligible data. Perceived social support failed to show a significant impact upon mortality. The findings suggest that people who engage socially and report frequent contacts with friends and family live longer.
Social capital and health: a return to social and sociological traditions
Social capital as a concept which is related to social contextand as a new element besides other factors like environmental, Genetic and individual factors has attracted interests of professional and authorities in national and international levels. This approach has attracted attentions in low-income countries which have source limitations for interventions. This paper introduces concepts regarding social capital and health relationship, and a review on experimental and theoretical literature as well. A review research conducted by reviewing scientific databases on the net.The study includes English & Persian papers published thought 1990-2009 which studied empirically or theoretically the relationship between social capital (and its components) and physical or mental health. Empirical results shows some evidence for the positive relationship between the two, but in some social contexts, factors like poverty, violence and individual differences (like gender) may result in decreasing of intensity of or disappearing the relationship. Thereare three main theoretical mechanisms to explain the relationship: promoting pro-Health behavior, facilitating access to services and the effect of psychological process. Finally critics and limitations in the study of social capital and health relation is explained.
Journal of Urban Health, 2006
Communities may be rich or poor in a variety of stocks of social capital. Studies that have investigated relations among these forms and their simultaneous and combined health effects are sparse. Using data on a sample of 24,835 adults (more than half of whom resided in core urban areas) nested within 40 U.S. communities from the Social Capital Benchmark Survey, correlational and factor analyses were applied to determine appropriate groupings among eight key social capital indicators (social trust, informal social interactions, formal group involvement, religious group involvement, giving and volunteering, diversity of friendship networks, electoral political participation, and non-electoral political participation) at each of the community and individual levels. Multilevel logistic regression models were estimated to analyze the associations between the grouped social capital forms and individual self-rated health. Adjusting the three identified community-level social capital groupings/scales for one another and community-and individual-level sociodemographic and socioeconomic characteristics, each of the odds ratios of fair/poor health associated with living in a community one standard deviation higher in the respective social capital form was modestly below one. Being high on all three (vs. none of the) scales was significantly associated with 18% lower odds of fair/poor health (odds ratio = 0.82, 95% confidence interval = 0.69-0.98). Adding individual-level social capital variables to the model attenuated two of the three community-level social capital associations, with a few of the former characteristics appearing to be moderately significantly protective of health. We further observed several significant interactions between community-level social capital and one's proximity to core urban areas, individual-level race/ethnicity, gender, and social capital. Overall, our results suggest primarily beneficial yet modest health effects of key summary forms of community social capital, and heterogeneity in some of these effects by urban context and population subgroup. ) Recent years have witnessed a burgeoning empirical literature linking social capital at the collective and individual levels to better health outcomes. 5 The vast majority of these studies have applied indicators of interpersonal trust, norms of reciprocity, and associational memberships (at the individual, community, or state level), such that the operationalization of social capital has largely corresponded to a small subset of domains. Moreover, few studies have simultaneously investigated social capital at the community and individual levels. 5 Using data from the Social Capital Benchmark Survey (SCBS), the most comprehensive U.S. survey of social capital to date among adults across 40 communities, Helliwell and Putnam 7 estimated the associations between two community social capital indicators (average levels of trust and associational memberships) and individual self-rated health, controlling for community-level median income and individual-level associational memberships, trust, importance of God/religion, frequency of religious service attendance, and sociodemographic and socioeconomic factors. At the community level, only social trust was significantly related to better health, while at the individual level, associational memberships, trust, and religious service attendance were all significantly associated with better health.
Influence of Social Capital on the Health of Individuals
Journal of social science (JSS), 2023
Social capital consists of characteristics of the relations and the interaction that happens between individuals and groups. It is perceived as an individual level where personal resources can emerge in various social networks where individuals have good access to support and services involved. On several occasions, social capital has been perceived as a factor that can affect health through numerous mechanisms. These are well-known norms and attitudes that influence health psychological networks and increases access to quality health systems thus enhancing self-esteem. The objective of this paper, therefore, was to assess the influence social capital has on the health of individuals. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design and targeted 840 respondents from 7 countries across sub-Saharan Africa. Data was collected through structured questionnaires and interview guides, which were pilot-tested before use and utilized the Cronbach alpha test on SPSS to measure both reliability of the research tool and the internal consistency. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics which includes correlation analysis aided by Statistical Package for Social Science for quantitative while the qualitative data was analyzed using narrative and thematic methods. Results showed that social capital indeed has an influence on the health of individuals. 54% of the respondents reported having fallen below their economic status at some point in their life and further provided insights on the importance of friends and family at this point in their life. 98% of them confirmed receiving aid and support (both moral and financial) from their family and social networks and this eased a lot of stress and further supported them in their search for new channels of earning their livelihoods. Also, 69.1% of the respondents reported belonging to a particular social network, among them, 95% confirmed that in multiple occasions, the social network influenced their health-seeking behaviors, diet, and general hygiene, eating and sleeping habits, etc. while noting that the network provides support (both financial, moral, care, etc.
Social Science & Medicine, 2008
Using data from the 2006 Social Capital Community Survey in Duluth, Minnesota, and Superior, Wisconsin, USA, we investigate associations between individual social capital measures (attitudes on trust, formal group involvement, informal socializing, organized group interaction, social support and volunteer activity) and self-rated health after controlling for individual and economic characteristics. In particular, we address issues of social capital as an endogenous determinant of self-reported health using instrumental variables probit estimation. After accounting for the endogeneity of these various measures of individual social capital, we find that individual social capital is a significant predictor of self-rated health.