Social capital, built environment and mental health: a comparison between the local elderly people and the ‘laopiao’ in urban China

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Shuangshuang Tang ◽  
Harry F. Lee ◽  
Jianxi Feng
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Capital ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Elderly People ◽  
Public Transportation ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Urban China ◽  
Health Determinants ◽  
Network Density ◽  
Street Network

Abstract In rapidly urbanising China, a high number of elderly people, the so-called ‘laopiao’, float to cities where their sons or daughters live to look after their children and grandchildren. Laopiao in urban China are thought to suffer poor mental health owing to their floating status. This study explores the inter-relationship among social capital, the built environment and mental health in urban China. Using a recent survey conducted in Nanjing (N = 591), structural equation modelling was performed to compare the local elderly people and the laopiao. Results showed that mental health determinants are dissimilar between the two groups of elderly people. Bonding social capital promotes mental health in both groups, while bridging and linking social capital only contributes to the mental health of the laopiao. Also, access to public transportation is positively correlated with mental health in both groups. Furthermore, lower street network density and better access to parks enhance the mental health of the local elderly people, while higher street network density and more open space within a community enhance the mental health of the laopiao. Our findings suggest that different policy measures should be implemented for different groups of elderly people in urban China to improve their mental health.

Social capital and perceived tenure security of informal housing: Evidence from Beijing, China

Urban Studies ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 004209802110330
Author(s):  
Mengzhu Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Informal Settlement ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Informal Settlements ◽  
Psychological Explanation ◽  
Urban China ◽  
Tenure Security

Perceived tenure security is recognised to affect the socioeconomic behaviours and wellbeing of informal settlement dwellers. The provision of perceived tenure security is centred on the developmental agenda as a key policy alternative of tenure legalisation. Despite the consensus about its importance, the reason perceived tenure security is different amongst dwellers remains unclear. To fill this gap, we introduce social capital theory to understand the formation of and disparity in perceived tenure security. The hypotheses are that dwellers living in informal settlements with higher collective social capital and having higher individual social capital tend to feel more secure on their tenure because of higher backing power attained to deter the threats of eviction. We examine the hypotheses using a structural equation model approach to a dataset collected from three small property rights housing communities, which are emerging informal settlements in urban China. Modelling results support our hypotheses and suggest that female, low-income and migrant dwellers tend to feel less secure on their tenure because of the lack of social capital to deter the threats to their tenure. This study contributes to a new sociological explanation for the disparity in perceived tenure security other than the established psychological explanation. Empirically, this study contributes to the understanding of the rapid development of small property rights housing developments in China from the perspective of how dwellers develop security on informal tenure.

Perceptions of social capital and the built environment and mental health

2006 ◽  
Vol 62 (12) ◽  
pp. 3072-3083 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo Araya ◽  
Frank Dunstan ◽  
Rebecca Playle ◽  
Hollie Thomas ◽  
Stephen Palmer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Capital ◽  
Built Environment

scholarly journals Social Capital and Self-Rated Health among Older Adults Living in Urban China: A Mediation Model

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (20) ◽  
pp. 5566 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nan Lu ◽  
Jingyue Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Social Capital ◽  
Living Arrangements ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Healthy Aging ◽  
Urban China ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Self Rated Health ◽  
Cognitive Social Capital ◽  
Structural Social Capital

Social capital and healthy aging are both crucial for social sustainability in China. The present study tested the role of structural social capital in self-rated health among older urban Chinese adults and the influence of cognitive social capital on this relationship. A sample of 456 older adults aged 60 or older in Suzhou, China, were recruited and completed the survey in 2015. Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed model. Cognitive social capital had larger effects on self-rated health than structural social capital. The relationship between structural social capital and self-rated health was fully mediated by cognitive social capital, when sociodemographic characteristics, socioeconomic status, physical health conditions, and living arrangements were controlled. The culturally sensitive latent construct of community-based social capital proved to be a valid instrument in urban Chinese contexts. Structural social capital likely indirectly affects self-rated health through cognitive social capital. Policy and intervention implications are discussed.

scholarly journals Social Capital and Mental Health among Older Adults Living in Urban China in the Context of COVID-19 Pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (21) ◽  
pp. 7947 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qian Sun ◽  
Nan Lu
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Social Capital ◽  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Urban China ◽  
Mediation Effect ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Cognitive Social Capital ◽  
Structural Social Capital

Although social capital has been found to be an important social determinant of mental health in later life, research on social capital in the context of COVID-19 and the interplay among subdimensions of social capital is lacking. The present study examined the mediating role of cognitive social capital on the relationship between structural social capital and mental health among older adults in urban China in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected from the Yangpu district in Shanghai, China, in July–August 2020. A quota sampling approach was used to recruit 472 respondents aged 60 years and older from 23 communities in the Yangpu district. Mental health was measured by depressive symptoms and life satisfaction. Cognitive social capital was assessed through trust and reciprocity, and structural social capital was assessed through organization memberships, and COVID-19 related volunteering and citizenship activity. Structural equation modeling was used to test the mediation model. The results show that cognitive social capital had a full mediation effect on the association between structural social capital and mental health indicators (life satisfaction: b = 0.122, SD = 0.029, p < 0.001; depressive symptoms: b = −0.343, SD = 0.119, p < 0.01). The findings indicate that social capital can play an important role in sustaining and improving mental health in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Policy and intervention implications are discussed.

scholarly journals Association between social capital, health-related quality of life, and mental health: a structural-equation modeling approach

2016 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jafar Hassanzadeh ◽  
Mohsen Asadi-Lari ◽  
Abdolvahab Baghbanian ◽  
Haleh Ghaem ◽  
Aziz Kassani ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Capital ◽  
Structural Equation Modeling ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Health Related Quality ◽  
Related Quality ◽  
Health Related

The Costs of Policing: Psychosocial Capital and Mental Health Outcomes in a Nigeria Police Sample

2015 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oluyinka Ojedokun ◽  
Shyngle K. Balogun
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Capital ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Mental Health Outcomes ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Psychological Training ◽  
Police Personnel ◽  
Workplace Social Capital

AbstractThis study examined the influence of psychosocial capital (psychological and workplace social capital) on mental health outcomes among 340 police personnel in Nigeria. Data were collected via anonymously completed questionnaires. The hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling, and the results revealed that in the context of stress and traumatic stress, resilience p < .05, optimism p < .05, self-efficacy p < .05, hope p < .05, and workplace social capital p < .05 can influence the development of mental health problems or adaptation. The findings imply that it is important that both researchers and police organization pay attention to how psychological capital influence the development of psychopathology or resilience and how such issues can be addressed through psychological training in the workplace.

scholarly journals Social Capital and Mental Health in Rural and Urban China: A Composite Hypothesis Approach

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 665 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoming Lin ◽  
Ruodan Lu ◽  
Liang Guo ◽  
Bing Liu
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Capital ◽  
Civic Participation ◽  
Political Trust ◽  
Urban China ◽  
Community Level ◽  
Outcome Variable ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
The Individual

The objective of this study is to follow the composite theory approach to analyze the effect of social capital on self-rated mental health in rural and urban China. Our nationally representative sample includes 10,968 respondents from 130 county-level communities. Two-level random-coefficient linear regressions, which model individual and community variations in subjective mental health, were estimated by taking the hierarchical structure of the dataset into account. We found that a significant proportion of the total variations in self-rated mental health were explained at the community level. We also found an association between low contextual civic trust and poor self-rated mental health after adjusting for individual social capital and individual socioeconomic-demographic variables. The study also revealed that: (1) in rural areas a positive relationship between civic and political trust and mental health existed both at the individual and the community level, respectively; and (2) in urban areas, only political trust at the individual level contributed to better mental health. In addition, the individual and community level political participation exhibited a positive impact on mental health measures in both rural and urban China. The individual level civic participation was positively associated to the outcome variable. However, the community-level civic participation seemed to negatively impact mental health in urban area. Our findings emphasize the importance of both individual and community-level healthcare interventions in China. Finally, this study also found that human capital covariates remained important predictors of self-rated mental health status even after controlling social capital both at individual and community levels. This study suggested that the composite thesis could provide a more convincing narrative than other theories in explaining the effects of both human and social capital on health.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document