Social capital and changes of psychologic distress during early stage of COVID-19 in New orleans

Abstract

Here we report on the relationship between measures of social capital, and their association with changes in self-reported measures of psychological distress during the early period of the COVID-19 pandemic. We analyze data from an existing cluster randomized control trial (the Healthy Neighborhoods Project) with 244 participants from New Orleans, Louisiana. Changes in self-reported scores between baseline (January 2019–March 2020) and participant’s second survey (March 20, 2020, and onwards) are calculated. Logistic regression is employed to examine the association between social capital indicators and measures of psychological distress adjusting for key covariates and controlling for residential clustering effects. Participants reporting higher than average scores for social capital indicators are significantly less likely to report increases in psychosocial distress between pre and during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Those who report higher than average sense of community were approximately 1.2 times less likely than those who report lower than average sense of community scores to experience increases in psychological distress before and during the global pandemic (OR 0.79; 95% CI 0.70,0.88, p ≤ 0.001), even after controlling for key covariates. Findings highlight the potentially important role that community social capital and related factors may play in the health of underrepresented populations during times of major stress. Specifically, the results suggest an important role of cognitive social capital and perceptions of community membership, belonging, and influence in buffering changes of mental health distress experienced during the initial period of the COVID-19 pandemic among a sample of residents.