Social Capital and Health: A Review

Abstract

This review presents a theoretical overview of social capital and its relation to health, association between social capital and (self-rated) health, and the usefulness of social capital in health promotion interventions at individual and community levels. The development of social capital has recently captured the interest of researchers in social epidemiology and public health. Social capital presents itself as an alternative to materialist structural inequalities (class, gender and race) by bringing to the forefront of social epidemiology an appealing common sense idealist social psychology to which everyone can relate (e.g. good relations with your community are good for your health). The concept of social capital came into existence as an individual's characteristics can contribute to the field of health promotion by adding new knowledge on how social network interventions may best be designed to meet the needs of the target group. Further social capital can advance social network interventions by acknowledging the risk for unequal distribution of investments and returns from social network involvement. Social capital, conceptualised as characterising whole communities, provides a useful framework for what constitutes health-supporting environments and guidance on how to achieve them.