Does social capital enhance health and well-being? Evidence from rural China
Does social capital enhance health and well-being? Evidence from rural China
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DOI：
10.1016/j.socscimed.2006.08.027
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发表时间：
2007-01-01
影响因子：
5.4
通讯作者：
Kawachi, Ichiro
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Yip, Winnie;Subramanian, S. V.;Kawachi, Ichiro
尽管人们越来越认识到社会资本是健康和整体福祉的重要决定因素，但有关发展中国家这些联系的方向和强度的经验证据仍然有限且不确定。本文实证检验了中国农村社会资本与健康和福祉之间的关系，以及常用社会资本指标的适用性，在中国农村，经济的快速增长与渐进的根本性社会变革并存。为了衡量社会资本，我们采用结构/认知的区分，其中结构性社会资本通过组织成员资格来衡量，认知性社会资本通过信任、互惠和互助的综合指数来衡量。我们的结果指标包括自我报告的总体健康状况、心理健康状况和主观幸福感。我们采用多层次估计方法来解释我们将社会资本概念化为个人和情境层面的资源。结果表明，认知社会资本（即信任）与个人层面的所有三个结果指标以及村庄层面的心理健康/主观幸福感呈正相关。我们进一步发现，信任通过社交网络和支持途径影响健康和福祉。相比之下，结构性社会资本（组织成员资格）和结果变量之间几乎不存在统计关联或一致模式。此外，尽管组织成员资格与集体行动高度相关，但两者都与健康或福祉无关。我们的研究结果表明，旨在创造一个增强社交网络和促进社会支持交换的环境的政策有望改善中国农村人口的健康和福祉。此外，中国可能尚未充分利用结构性社会资本在促进健康和福祉方面的潜在贡献。将集体行动从经济活动转向社会活动可能值得考虑。 (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. 保留所有权利。
Despite increasing acknowledgement that social capital is an important determinant of health and overall well-being, empirical evidence regarding the direction and strength of these linkages in the developing world is limited and inconclusive. This paper empirically examines relationships between social capital and health and well-being-as well as the suitability of commonly used social capital measures-in rural China, where rapid economic growth coexists with gradual and fundamental social changes. To measure social capital, we adopt a structural/cognitive distinction, whereby structural social capital is measured by organizational membership and cognitive social capital is measured by a composite index of trust, reciprocity, and mutual help. Our outcome measures included self-reported general health, psychological health, and subjective well-being. We adopt multi-level estimation methods to account for our conceptualization of social capital as both an individual- and contextual-level resource. Results indicate that cognitive social capital (i.e., trust) is positively associated with all three outcome measures at the individual level and psychological health/subjective well-being at the village level as well. We further find that trust affects health and well-being through pathways of social network and support. In contrast, there is little statistical association or consistent pattern between structural social capital (organizational membership) and the outcome variables. Furthermore, although organizational membership is highly correlated with collective action, neither is associated with health or well-being. Our results suggest that policies aimed at producing an environment that enhances social networks and facilitates the exchange of social support hold promise for improving the health and well-being of the rural Chinese population. In addition, China may not have fully taken advantage of the potential contribution of structural social capital in advancing health and well-being. A redirection of collective action from economic to social activities may be worth considering. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.