Abstract
BackgroundSocial capital has lately received much attention in public health research. However, few studies have examined the influence of social capital on alcohol consumption, smoking and drug use which have strong influence on public health. The present cross-sectional study investigated whether two measures of social capital were related to substance use in a large population of Swedish adolescents.MethodsA total of 7757 13–18 year old students (participation rate: 78.2%) anonymously completed the Survey of Adolescent Life in Vestmanland 2008 which included questions on sociodemographic background, neighbourhood social capital, general social trust, alcohol consumption, smoking, and illicit drug use.ResultsIndividuals within the group with low neighbourhood social capital had an approximately 60% increased odds of high alcohol consumption, more than three times increased odds of smoking and more than double the odds of having used illicit drugs compared with individuals with high neighbourhood social capital. Individuals within the group with low general social trust had approximately 50% increased odds of high alcohol consumption and double the odds of smoking and having used illicit drugs compared with individuals with high general social trust. However, social capital at the contextual level showed very weak effects on alcohol consumption, smoking, and illicit drug use.ConclusionsSocial capital may be an important factor in the future development of prevention programs concerning adolescent substance use. However, further replications of the results as well as identifications of direction of causality are needed.
Highlights
Social capital has lately received much attention in public health research
Smoking was more common among girls and illicit drug use was more common among boys (Table 2)
The present study investigated whether bonding social capital in the form of connectedness and networks within neighbourhoods and bridging social capital in the form of general social trust were associated with substance use in a large Swedish adolescent population
Summary
Few studies have examined the influence of social capital on alcohol consumption, smoking and drug use which have strong influence on public health. The concept of social capital has received much attention in the research field of public health. Alcohol consumption, smoking, and drug use are well known risk factors in relation to public health [11,12,13]. The social capital concept includes a structural and a cognitive component that represent the norms and networks that enable people to collective action, co-operation and social participation [19]. Linking social capital refers to: “norms of respect and networks of trusting relationships between people who are interacting across explicit, formal or institutionalized power or authority gradients in society” [20]
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