Association between social capital and self-perception of health in Brazilian adults

Abstract

OBJECTIVE To investigate the association between social capital and social capital and self-perception of health based on examining the influence of health-related behaviors as possible mediators of this relationship.METHODS A cross-sectional study was used with 1,081 subjects, which is representative of the population of individuals aged 40 years or more in a medium-sized city in Southern Brazil. The subjects who perceived their health as fine, bad or very bad were considered to have a negative self-perception of their health. The social capital indicators were: number of friends, people from whom they could borrow money from when needed; the extent of trust in community members; whether or not members of the community helped each other; community safety; and extent of participation in community activities. The behaviors were: physical activity during leisure time, fruits and vegetable consumption, tobacco use and alcohol abuse. The odds ratios (OR) and confidence intervals (CI) 95% were calculated by binary logistic regression. The significance of mediation was verified using the Sobel test.RESULTS Following adjustment for demographic and clinical variables, subjects with fewer friends (OR = 1.39, 95%CI 1.08;1.80), those who perceived less frequently help from people in the neighborhood (OR = 1.30, 95%CI 1.01;1.68), who saw the violent neighborhood (OR = 1.33, 95%CI 1.01;1.74) and who had not participated in any community activity (OR = 1.39, 95%CI 1.07;1.80) had more negative self-perception of their health. Physical activity during leisure time was a significant mediator in the relationship between all social capital indicators (except for the borrowed money variable) and self-perceived health. Fruit and vegetable consumption was a significant mediator of the relationship between the extent of participation in community activities and self-perceived health. Tobacco use and alcohol abuse did not seem to have a mediating role in any relationship.CONCLUSIONS Lifestyle seems to only partially explain the relationship between social capital and self-perceived health. Among the investigated behaviors, physical activity during leisure time is what seems to have the most important role as a mediator of this relationship.

Um estudo longitudinal da associação do capital social e mortalidade entre idosos brasileiros residentes em comunidade

“…A more direct explanation for the association between social capital and mortality does not appear simple. The most plausible explanation is that social capital affects mortality indirectly via its impact on health, mediated by a series of psychosocial 11 and economic components 6 that can vary between populations. Social capital is linked to health by various mechanisms.…”

“…In Brazil, recent research on this relationship (between social capital and health) has addressed a wide range of topics, including health behaviors 7 , functional incapacity 8 , oral health 9 , mental health 10 , and self-rated health 11 , to mention a few. However, Brazilian studies on the role of social capital in predicting mortality are still incipient.…”

Influência do apoio social e capital social no consumo alimentar de adultos no sul do Brasil

“…Achados apontam que a presença de melhores índices de apoio social está associada com melhores níveis de consumo de frutas e vegetais [13][14][15][16][17] . Da mesma forma, altos níveis de capital social têm sido relacionados com maior proteção para a insegurança alimentar [18][19][20][21] , bem como para a obesidade 22,23 . Contudo, a associação entre aspectos psicossociais e alimentares tem sido pouco explorada na literatura, principalmente no contexto brasileiro.…”

Does social capital enhance self-rated health of married women? Findings from a population-based study

“…During the last decades, empirical evidence showed that social capital is one of the important social determinants of health Evidence shows that social capital is associated with a range of health-related behaviors and their consequences including criminal behaviors, mental health, smoking, suicidal ideation, suicide attempts and mortality [5][6][7][8][9]. A study in the Brazilian general population found that people who had fewer friends, and provide less support for neighborhood people, and had lower community-based participation and activities were more likely to rate their health negatively [10].…”