Abstract
The objectives are to, for neighborhoods with different levels of social capital, (1) map out the levels of social interactions, emotional support, and instrumental support before the COVID-19 crisis, (2) analyze how social interactions, emotional support, and instrumental support had changed during the pandemic and, (3) analyze changes in self-rated health during the pandemic. This study is based on a telephone survey with a subsample of 168 respondents in Umeå municipality who participated in a large base-line social capital survey in 2006. We asked whether neighbors talk to, care for, and help each other, before and during the Covid crisis. Individuals rated their health as poor or good. We compared people's self-rated health and their perceptions about their neighborhoods between those who lived in high or low/medium social capital neighborhoods. Before the pandemic, participants in high social capital neighborhoods reported more active neighborhood interaction and support. During the crisis, social interaction and support increased in all neighborhoods, but more in high social capital neighborhoods. Overall, people seemed to help and care for each other more during than before the crisis. More individuals in the high social capital neighborhoods reported improvement in their health during the pandemic, than those in the low/medium social capital neighborhoods. Our findings indicate that neighborhoods social capital can be strengthened during a crisis, in particular in areas with existing high levels of social capital. The findings need to be interpreted carefully due to its small sample size but observed patterns warrant further investigation.
Highlights
Together with other UN members, Sweden has ratified the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, containing 17 goals for ensuring economic, environmental, and social sustainability
Among individuals who already perceived that neighbors talked, cared for, and helped each other before the pandemic, more of individuals who lived in the high social capital neighborhoods perceived that neighbors talked more, care for more, and helped each other more during the COVID-19 crisis (9.3, 28.1, 30.9%, respectively) compared to those living in the low/medium social capital neighborhoods (4.6, 15.6, 19.3%, respectively)
Changed from good to poor health of people in both low/medium and high social capital neighborhoods who reported good health before the pandemic rated their health as good during COVID-19 pandemic (91.1 and 83.3%, respectively). These figures must be cautiously interpreted, due to the low number of participants. This brief research report presents results from an ongoing project that investigates the role of social capital for health and wellbeing in local neighborhoods, and how local social capital might change over time due to housing and social interventions
Summary
Together with other UN members, Sweden has ratified the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, containing 17 goals for ensuring economic, environmental, and social sustainability. According to Putnam, a community with high social capital is characterized by the existence of dense and strong social networks, high involvement in these networks, and strong norms of reciprocity and generalized trust between people. Putnam (1993, 2000) differentiates between three essential forms of social capital: networks of civic engagement, norms of reciprocity, and social trust. These forms influence each other in that networks foster norms of reciprocity which in turn create social trust. Structural social capital refers to the actual participation in networks and the social interaction between people, while cognitive social capital refers to perceptions about social network involvement such as trust and reciprocity norms (Krishna and Shrader, 2000; Harpham et al, 2002)
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