Abstract
BackgroundThis research investigates wellbeing at the population level across demographic, social and health indicators and assesses the association between wellbeing and social capital.MethodData from a South Australian monthly chronic disease/risk factor surveillance system of randomly selected adults (mean age 48.7 years; range 16–99) from 2014/5 (n = 5551) were used. Univariable analyses compared wellbeing/social capital indicators, socio-demographic, risk factors and chronic conditions. Multi-nominal logistic regression modelling, adjusting for multiple covariates was used to simultaneously estimate odds ratios for good wellbeing (reference category) versus neither good nor poor, and good wellbeing versus poor wellbeing.Results48.6% were male, mean age 48.7 (sd 18.3), 54.3% scored well on all four of the wellbeing indicators, and positive social capital indicators ranged from 93.1% for safety to 50.8% for control over decisions. The higher level of social capital corresponded with the good wellbeing category. Modeling showed higher odds ratios for all social capital variables for the lowest level of wellbeing. These higher odds ratios remained after adjusting for confounders.ConclusionsThe relationship between wellbeing, resilience and social capital highlights areas for increased policy focus.
Highlights
This research investigates wellbeing at the population level across demographic, social and health indicators and assesses the association between wellbeing and social capital
54.3% of the South Australian adult population scored well on all four of the wellbeing indicators, while the range of positive responses to the social capital indicators ranged from 93.1% for safety to 50.8% for control over decisions
The most marked increase in odds ratios were for the social capital variable assessing control over decisions that affect life. Those who do not have control were over 10 times more likely to have poor wellbeing. This analysis has detailed the distribution of wellbeing in the South Australian adult population with high levels reported for females, older persons, those living in rural areas, married and those able to save
Summary
This research investigates wellbeing at the population level across demographic, social and health indicators and assesses the association between wellbeing and social capital. An important notion within the positive wellbeing concept is resilience, broadly defined as the ability to bounce-back from negative events [4, 5]. Developing personal skills to Social capital, broadly defined as connectedness within and between populations, and the quality and quantity of social relations within that population [9], is a multidisciplinary and multi-faceted, well researched area that encompasses social networks, trust, reciprocity and support [4, 9]. The debate regarding definition and measurement of social capital is not the focus of this paper; rather we aim to assess the association between
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