Abstract
BackgroundSocial capital is associated with health behaviours and health. Our objective was to explore how different dimensions of social capital and health-related behaviours are associated, and whether health behaviours mediate this association between social capital and self-rated health and psychological well-being.MethodsWe used data from the Health 2000 Survey (n=8028) of the adult population in Finland. The response rate varied between 87% (interview) and 77% (the last self-administered questionnaire). Due to item non-response, missing values were replaced using multiple imputation. The associations between three dimensions of social capital (social support, social participation and networks, trust and reciprocity) and five health behaviours (smoking, alcohol use, physical activity, vegetable consumption, sleep) were examined by using logistic regression and controlling for age, gender, education, income and living arrangements. The possible mediating role of health behaviours in the association between social capital and self-rated health and psychological well-being was also analysed with a logistic regression model.ResultsSocial participation and networks were associated with all of the health behaviours. High levels of trust and reciprocity were associated with non-smoking and adequate duration of sleep, and high levels of social support with adequate duration of sleep and daily consumption of vegetables. Social support and trust and reciprocity were independently associated with self-rated health and psychological well-being. Part of the association between social participation and networks and health was explained by physical activity.ConclusionsIrrespective of their social status, people with higher levels of social capital – especially in terms of social participation and networks – engage in healthier behaviours and feel healthier both physically and psychologically.
Highlights
Social capital is associated with health behaviours and health
The results suggest that high or average social participation in connection with low trust is associated with high alcohol consumption [8,23]
The only dimension of social capital that was clearly associated with all types of health behaviour was participation (Table 2)
Summary
Social capital is associated with health behaviours and health. Social capital can be conceptualised and measured at the collective or individual level [1]. Collective social capital is seen to arise in communities and neighbourhoods and is examined as a ‘collective property’. Social capital is seen as a personal resource that emerges from social networks where individuals have better access to information, Department of Health, Functional Capacity and Welfare, National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), Helsinki, Finland. It has been suggested that social capital affects health through several mechanisms: norms and attitudes that influence health behaviours, psychosocial networks that increase access to health care and psychosocial mechanisms that enhance self esteem [6,7,8]
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