There is a growing literature demonstrating the health benefits of social capital (defined as the resources accessed through social connections). However, social capital is also acknowledged to be a ...“double-edged” phenomenon, whose effects on health are not always positive. We sought to systematically review studies that have found a negative (i.e. harmful) association between social capital and health outcomes. Our objective was to classify the different types of negative effects, following a framework originally proposed by Portes (1998).
We conducted a literature search in Pubmed, Embase and PsychInfo. We identified 3530 manuscripts. After detailed review, we included 44 articles in our systematic review. There are at least two negative consequences of social capital besides the classification proposed by Portes: behavioral contagion and cross-level interactions between social cohesion and individual characteristics. When leveraging the concept of social capital for health promotion interventions, researchers need to take account of these potential “downsides” for health outcomes.
•Social capital is acknowledged to be a “double-edged” phenomenon.•Portes built a typology to classify studies related to dark sides of social capital.•We identified two more downsides in the public health literature.•Future studies are encouraged to use the new categories.
Research on social capital in public health is approaching its 20th anniversary. Over this period, there have been rich and productive debates on the definition, measurement and importance of social ...capital for public health research and practice. As a result, the concepts and measures characterising social capital and health research have also evolved, often drawing from research in the social, political and behavioural sciences. The multidisciplinary adaptation of social capital-related concepts to study health has made it challenging for researchers to reach consensus on a common theoretical approach. This glossary thus aims to provide a general overview without recommending any particular approach. Based on our knowledge and research on social capital and health, we have selected key concepts and terms that have gained prominence over the last decade and complement an earlier glossary on social capital and health.
Study objective:To investigate prospectively the associations between depression and cognitive social capital (social trust, sense of belonging, mutual aid) and structural social capital (volunteer ...work and community participation).Methods:This was a prospective study that was carried out in the USA. The participants were a nationally representative sample of 724 English-speaking non-institutionalised adults (25–74 years old) who participated in the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) in 1995–6 and the MIDUS Psychological Experience Follow-Up study in 1998.Main results:In multivariable adjusted logistic regression analyses, those who trusted their neighbours were less likely to develop major depression (MD) during follow-up than those who reported low levels of social capital on these dimensions (adjusted OR of MD for high vs low trust = 0.43; 95% CI 0.20 to 0.93, adjusted for MD at baseline, age, gender, race, education, working status, marital status, physical health and extroversion traits). Structural dimensions of social capital were not associated with MD in adjusted models.Conclusions:Perceptions of higher levels of cognitive social capital (trust of neighbours) are associated with lower risks of developing MD during 2–3 year follow-up. However, after excluding participants with MD at the baseline, the association between trust and MD became non-significant. Structural dimensions were not associated with MD.
Social capital is defined as the resources available to individuals and groups through membership in social networks. The definition is consistent with either an individualistic approach or a ...collective approach. Social capital can be further classified according to bonding versus bridging social capital (e.g. relationships between individuals who are homogeneous or heterogeneous with respect to social class, race/ethnicity, or other attributes). We conducted a systematic review via Pubmed, the ISI web of knowledge and OVID of the studies that examined bridging social capital in public health settings. Our results indicate lack of consistency or uniformity in the operationalization of bridging social capital. We identify some promising approaches to measurement that should be further investigated in future studies.
•No studies appear to base their measurement on a common formulation.•Bridging social capital has been measured without specifying the heterogeneity.•Future studies should follow the guidelines we provide.
Despite two decades of research on social capital and health, intervention studies remain scarce. We performed a systematic review on social capital interventions in public health and searched the ...Pubmed and PsychInfo databases. The majority of interventions we identified focused on individual level change (e.g. encouraging social participation), as opposed to community level change. We included 17 manuscripts in the systematic review. We categorized studies according to the role of social capital in the interventions (as the direct target of intervention, as a channel/mediator, or as a segmenting variable) as well as the levels of interventions (individual, community levels vs. multilevel ). We conclude that the majority of interventions sought to directly strengthen social capital to influence health outcomes. Our review reveals (i) a lack of studies that incorporate a multilevel perspective and (ii) an absence of consideration of specific groups that might selectively benefit from social capital interventions (segmentation). Future research is needed on both questions to provide a more nuanced picture of how social capital can be manipulated to affect health outcomes.
•Intervention studies on social capital remain scarce.•We characterized studies considering levels and role of social capital.•There is a lack of studies that incorporate multilevel perspectives.•No study considers specific groups in the interventions.•Future research is needed on both questions.
Natural disasters are often associated with forced residential relocation, thereby affected people experience a change of food environment that results in the increased body mass index. However, ...there are a few studies that examined whether a change in food environment caused risk of obesity after a natural disaster. To address this question, we leveraged a natural experiment of residential relocation in the aftermath of the 2011 Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. Our baseline data came from a nationwide cohort study of older community-dwelling adults conducted 7 months prior to the disaster. By chance, one of the field sites (Iwanuma City, Miyagi Prefecture) was directly in the line of the tsunami. Approximately 2.5 years after the disaster, we ascertained the residential addresses and health status of 3,594 survivors aged 65 years or older (82.1% follow-up rate). Fixed effects multinomial logistic regression showed that shortened distances to food outlets/bars increased the risks of transitioning from BMI in the normal range (18.5-22.9) to obesity (≥25.0) (Odds ratios: 1.46 for supermarkets; 1.43 for bars; 1.44 times for fast food outlets). Radically changed food access after a natural disaster may raise the risk of obesity among older survivors.
Access to dental clinics is a feature of the neighborhood service environment that may influence oral health care utilization. However, residential selection poses a challenge to causal inference. By ...studying the involuntary relocation of survivors of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami (GEJE), we examined the association between changes in geographic distance to dental clinics and dental visits. Longitudinal data from a cohort of older residents in Iwanuma City directly impacted by the GEJE were analyzed in this study. The baseline survey was conducted in 2010, 7 mo before the occurrence of GEJE, and a follow-up was conducted in 2016. Using Poisson regression models, we estimated the incidence rate ratios (IRR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the uptake of denture use (as a proxy for dental visits) according to changes in distance from the nearest dental clinic to their house. Age at baseline, housing damage by the disaster, deteriorating economic conditions, and worsened physical activity were used as confounders. Among the 1,098 participants who had not worn dentures before the GEJE, 495 were men (45.1%), with a mean ± SD age at baseline of 74.0 ± 6.9 y. During the 6-year follow-up, 372 (33.9%) participants initiated denture use. Compared to those who experienced a large increase in distance to dental clinics (>370.0–6,299.1 m), a large decrease in distance to dental clinics (>429.0–5,382.6 m) was associated with a marginally significantly higher initiation of denture use among disaster survivors (IRR = 1.28; 95% CI, 0.99–1.66). The experience of major housing damage was independently associated with higher initiation of denture use (IRR = 1.77; 95% CI, 1.47−2.14). Improved geographic access to dental clinics may increase dental visits of disaster survivors. Further studies in non-disaster-affected areas are needed to generalize these findings.
Summary
Social capital, defined as the resources accessed by individuals and groups through social connections, has been posited to be a social determinant of obesity. However, empirical evidence for ...this association has been inconsistent – namely, some studies have found a protective association while others have reported no correlation. We sought to conduct a systematic review on the relation between neighbourhood social capital and obesity, considering potential differences on the results based on the measures used and the covariates and mediators included in the studies. PRISMA statement guidelines were followed. Our results indicate that an association between neighbourhood social capital and obesity exists, but that it depends on the measures and covariates used in the study design. Understanding the role of social capital in the development and/or maintenance of obesity will require the use of strong methodological designs and a thorough conceptualization of how this relationship may arise.
Each year, almost 1 million people die from suicide, which is among the leading causes of death in young people. We studied how birth order was associated with suicide and other main causes of death. ...A follow-up study based on the Swedish population register was conducted for sibling groups born from 1932 to 1980 who were observed during the period 1981-2002. Focus was on the within-family variation in suicide risk, meaning that we studied sibling groups that consisted of 2 or more children in which at least 1 died from suicide. These family-fixed effects analyses revealed that each increase in birth order was related to an 18% higher suicide risk (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.14, 1.23, P = 0.000). The association was slightly lower among sibling groups born in 1932-1955 (hazard ratio = 1.13, 95% CI: 1.06, 1.21, P = 0.000) than among those born in 1967-1980 (hazard ratio = 1.24, 95% CI: 0.97, 1.57, P = 0.080). Further analyses suggested that the association between birth order and suicide was only modestly influenced by sex, birth spacing, size of the sibling group, own socioeconomic position, own marital status, and socioeconomic rank within the sibling group. Causes of death other than suicide and other external causes were not associated with birth order.
PDF
