Does social capital, resources embedded in social relationships, influence health? This research examines whether social capital impacts depressive symptoms and overall perceived health status over and above the effects of social support. Our analyses use unique data from the Taiwan Social Change Survey collected in 1997, and measures social capital and social support through two network instruments (the position generator and the name generator). Results replicate the effects of social support, as measured through the name generator, on both outcomes. Results show that social capital, as measured through the position generator has direct effects on both outcomes net of social support, while social support is a stronger predictor than social capital. This research indicates that social capital contributes to health beyond and distinct from the contribution of social support, and it suggests that social capital and social support are two independent relationship-based causes of disease which require different instruments of measurement.

The author proposes a conceptual model to explain the diverse roles of social capital--resources embedded in social networks--in the social production of health. Using a unique national U.S. sample, the author estimated a path analysis model to examine the direct and indirect effects of social capital on psychological distress and its intervening effects on the relationships between other structural antecedents and psychological distress. The results show that social capital is inversely associated with psychological distress, and part of that effect is indirect through subjective social status. Social capital also acts as an intervening mechanism to link seven social factors (age, gender, race-ethnicity, education, occupational prestige, annual family income, and voluntary participation) with psychological distress. This study develops the theory of social capital as network resources and demonstrates the complex functions of social capital as a distinct social determinant of health.

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