Why do Swedish-speaking Finns have longer active life? An area for social capital research

Abstract

We performed ecological and individual register studies to compare disability-free life expectancies and disability pensions among Swedish-speaking and Finnish-speaking Finns residing on the western coast of Finland. The study was conducted to establish our assumption that the Swedish-speaking ethnic minority has a longer active life than the Finnish-speaking majority and to show that this disparity can be seen in a limited geographical area with similar socio-economic and health service structures. We suggest that the observed disparities in active life and in mortality depend on differences in the extent of social capital. A detailed characterization of the social capital and its impact on the health of the Swedish-speaking individuals is in progress.

Capital social e a agenda de pesquisa em epidemiologia

“…Esta não pretende ser uma revisão completa, visto que novas evidências aparecem rapidamente. Com relação à saúde vários níveis de análise têm sido propostos: (i) indivíduos ou domicílios 53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65 ; (ii) vizinhança ou bairros 51,66,67,68,69,70,71 ; (iii) regiões 72,73 ; (iv) Estados de um único país 74,75,76,77,78,79,80,81,82,83,84,85,86,87,88,89,90,91 ; e (v) entre países 92,93 .…”

“…Somente recentemente, a primeira evidên-cia quantitativa na relação entre coesão social e baixa mortalidade foi relatada 88 73 .…”

Linking social capital and mortality in the elderly: A Swedish national cohort study

“…During the past decades, there has been an upsurge of interest in the concept social capital and it has been referred to as a societal component that is positively associated with democracy (Putnam, 2000b;Putnam, 1993) and economic wealth (Holzmann et al, 1999;Woolcock et al, 2000). In contrast, lack of social capital has been associated with social disintegration and violent crime (Sampson et al, 1997) as well as adverse health-related outcomes in all ages (Green et al, 2000;Hyyppä et al, 2001;Kawachi et al, 1997a;Sundquist et al, 2006), such as poor selfrated health (Kawachi et al, 1999;Sundquist et al, 2007), poor mental health (Hamano et al, 2010;Lofors et al, 2007), hypertensive status (Hamano et al, 2011a) and coronary heart disease (Sundquist et al, 2006). Current definitions and measurements of social capital have usually been derived from leading social scientists such as Bourdieu, Coleman and Putnam.…”

Lukiolaisten masentuneisuus ja vanhempien työllisyystilanne –Uudenmaan ja Pohjanmaan maakuntien suomen- ja ruotsinkielisten lukioiden opiskelijoiden vertailua

“…Tutkimuksissa on raportoitu esimerkiksi alueellisia hyvinvointieroja (1), sosioekonomisten ryhmien välisiä hyvinvointieroja (2) ja suomen-ja ruotsinkielisen kieliryhmän välisiä hyvinvointieroja (3,4,5).…”

“…Ruotsinkieliselle kieliryhmälle ominaista yhteisöllisyyttä, luottamusta toisiin ih misiin ja sosiaalista vuorovaikutusta (sosiaalista pääomaa) onkin pidetty hyvän terveyden perustana useissa tutkimuksissa. (3,4) Saarelan (48) tutkimuksen mukaan myös taloudellinen elintaso oli korkeampi natiiviasukkailla kuin muualta muuttaneillla. Taloudellinen elintaso oli ruotsinkielisillä suomenkielisiä korkeampi sekä Uudellamaalla että Pohjanmaalla.…”