Although there is increasing evidence supporting the associations between social capital and health, less is known of potential effects in Latin American countries. Our objective was to examine ...associations of different components of social capital with self-rated health in Colombia. The study had a cross-sectional design, using data of a survey applied to a nationally representative sample of 3025 respondents, conducted in 2004–2005. Stratified random sampling was performed, based on town size, urban/rural origin, age, and sex. Examined indicators of social capital were interpersonal trust, reciprocity, associational membership, non-electoral political participation, civic activities and volunteering. Principal components analysis including different indicators of social capital distinguished three components:
structural-formal (associational membership and non-electoral political participation),
structural-informal (civic activities and volunteering) and
cognitive (interpersonal trust and reciprocity). Multilevel analyses showed no significant variations of self-rated health at the regional level. After adjusting for sociodemographic covariates, interpersonal trust was statistically significantly associated with lower odds of poor/fair health, as well as the cognitive social capital component. Members of farmers/agricultural or gender-related groups had higher odds of poor/fair health, respectively. Excluding these groups, however, associational membership was associated with lower odds of poor/fair health. Likewise, in Colombians with educational attainment higher than high school, reciprocity was associated with lower odds of fair/poor health. Nevertheless, among rural respondents non-electoral political participation was associated with worse health. In conclusion, cognitive social capital and associational membership were related to better health, and could represent important notions for health promotion. Human rights violations related to political violence and gender based discrimination may explain adverse associations with health.
► The good: social capital is relevant given positive effects of trust and political participation on self-rated health. ► The bad: low socioeconomic status people reported worse health. Civic participation was low despite legal mandates. ► The ugly: members of gender and peasant organizations exhibit worse health, potentially due to violations of human rights.
This study examines the complexity of measuring social capital and presents the Barometer of Social Capital (BARCAS) as a comprehensive research methodology to do so. The BARCAS is a multilevel, ...multi-setting, multivariate, and cross-national instrument developed in Colombia and applied four times over two decades, in 1997, 2005, 2011, and 2017. Throughout each of the four measurements, a variety of methods were used to improve the explained variance of the model and disaggregate dimensions into variables and items to determine their contribution to a factor’s average change. The learning and refining processes undertaken to improve the BARCAS are described in detail. Ultimately, the 2017 iteration of the BARCAS presents us with four factors that make up social capital and explain 76% of the variance: Social Fabric, Civic Capital, Institutional Trust and Indirect Control of the State, and Faith in Unvalidated Sources of Information. Factor analysis of dimensions differentiated the factors and produced factor scores or dependent variables for each respondent. The surprising volatility of the factors’ composition and levels over time indicates that the current research strategy of piecemeal hypothesis testing should be complemented by a more clinical approach, given the wide variety of intervening elements present at any given place and time. Further research could uncover whether BARCAS dimensions and factors are universal to all societies. It is hoped that the lessons learned with the BARCAS can be used by other researchers in similar endeavors.
Although there is increasing evidence supporting the associations between social capital and health, less is known of potential effects in Latin American countries. Our objective was to examine ...associations of different Components of social capital with self-rated health in Colombia. The study had a cross-sectional design, using data of a survey applied to a nationally representative sample of 3025 respondents, Conducted in 2004-2005. Stratified random sampling was performed, based on town size, urban/rural origin, age, and sex. Examined indicators of social capital were interpersonal trust, reciprocity, associational membership, non-electoral political participation, civic activities and volunteering, Principal components analysis including different indicators of social capital distinguished three components: structural-formal (associational membership and non-electoral political participation), structural-informal (civic activities and volunteering) and cognitive (interpersonal trust and reciprocity). Multilevel analyses showed no significant variations of self-rated health at the regional level. After adjusting for sociodemographic covariates, interpersonal trust was statistically significantly associated with lower odds of poor/fair health, as well as the cognitive social capital component. Members of farmers/agricultural or gender-related groups had higher odds of poor/fair health, respectively. Excluding these groups, however, associational membership was associated with lower odds of poor/fair health. Likewise, in Colombians with educational attainment higher than high school, reciprocity was associated with lower odds of fair/poor health. Nevertheless, among rural respondents non-electoral political participation was associated with worse health. In conclusion, cognitive social capital and associational membership were related to better health, and could represent important notions for health promotion. Human rights violations related to political violence and gender based discrimination may explain adverse associations with health. Copyright Elsevier Ltd.
El capital social de Colombia Rosenbaum, John Sudarsky
Apuntes del CENES,
06/2002, Volume:
21, Issue:
33
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
El libro divulga los resultados obtenidos por el autor, experto en planeación participativa y descentralización, de una densainvestigación realizada desde 1994, con el auspicio del Departamento ...Nacional de Planeación.
The Barometer of Social Capital (BARCAS) was designed to establish a baseline for the development of social capital in Colombia. Using elements of the World Value Survey, it was intended to cover a ...wide variety of social formations & to include populations still in Gemeinschaft as well as amoral familist types of solidarity. Social capital comprises 10 main dimensions (institutional trust, civic participation, mutuality & reciprocity, horizontal relationship, hierarchy, social control, civic republicanism, political participation, information, & media). Through factor analysis, social capital explained 45% of variance. Also explored was how this capital was contained in different "situses." Results of path analysis & comparative reference with the World Value Survey reveal significant institutional obstacles as well as policy recommendations to increase the formation of social capital. These are discussed in regard to contemporary controversies in the field.
There has been increasing interest in the interaction of the basal ganglia with the cerebellum and the brainstem in motor control and movement disorders. In addition, it has been suggested that these ...subcortical connections with the basal ganglia may help to coordinate a network of regions involved in mediating posture and stabilization. While studies in animal models support a role for this circuitry in the pathophysiology of the movement disorder dystonia, thus far, there is only indirect evidence for this in humans with dystonia.
In the current study we investigated probabilistic diffusion tractography in DYT1-negative patients with cervical dystonia and matched healthy control subjects, with the goal of showing that patients exhibit altered microstructure in the connectivity between the pallidum and brainstem. The brainstem regions investigated included nuclei that are known to exhibit strong connections with the cerebellum. We observed large clusters of tractography differences in patients relative to healthy controls, between the pallidum and the brainstem. Tractography was decreased in the left hemisphere and increased in the right hemisphere in patients, suggesting a potential basis for the left/right white matter asymmetry we previously observed in focal dystonia patients.
These findings support the hypothesis that connections between the basal ganglia and brainstem play a role in the pathophysiology of dystonia.
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