Mediators of health inequalities in Europe: social capital of personal network and generalized trust

Author(s):  
Nina Rusinova ◽  
Viacheslav Safronov
2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 62
Author(s):  
María Paz Sandín Esteban ◽  
Angelina Sánchez Martí ◽  
Ana Belén Cano Hila

<p class="apa">This paper addresses the importance of the diagnosis of “personal communities” as relational systems that may influence the academic pathways of young immigrants. As part of a longitudinal study of the academic persistence of young people in their transition from compulsory to post-compulsory education, a “personal network questionnaire” has been developed. This instrument allows the relational structure of students to be captured and represented, and the impact of this structure on educational outcomes to be analysed. It measures and explores the network of inter-relations with adults (family, educational and recreational professionals, etc.) and peers in different settings. The theoretical elements underpinning its design and implementation are the interweaving of the student social capital and social support system to which they have or may have access to, and the Social Network Analysis (SNA) approach as the methodological framework. This network approach is rendered highly significant and valuable for professionals in educational diagnosis to assess relational vulnerability and design programs of intervention and counseling. With graphic techniques, we can somewhat address this challenge by examining patterns in relational data, experimenting with these data and putting forward hypotheses.</p>


2010 ◽  
Vol 99 (3) ◽  
pp. 357-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neena L. Chappell ◽  
Laura M. Funk

2007 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 709-732 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Hooghe

Abstract.In recent years an impressive amount of evidence has been collected documenting a negative relationship between levels of ethnic diversity and social capital indicators, in particular generalized trust. In this article we raise a number of theoretical arguments that should be addressed before these findings can be generalized. First, it has to be remembered that most of these studies focus on generalized trust as a social capital indicator, while trust probably is most vulnerable for the effects of weakening homogeneity. Second, it is argued that in order to arrive at a better understanding of the relation between diversity and social capital, at least three intermediary variables need to be taken into account: 1) the question whether diversity entails segregation of networks at the individual level; 2) the increase in diversity rather than the absolute level; 3) the regimes societies use to govern diversity, and especially the variation with regard to the openness of these regimes. We close by exploring the suggestion that in more diverse societies, recognition of group differences and identities, and group relations based on equality-based concepts of reciprocity should be considered as potentially more meaningful strategies.Résumé.Dans les dernières années, une quantité impressionnante de preuves ont été rassemblées, qui documentent une relation négative entre le niveau de diversité ethnique et les indicateurs de capital social, en particulier la confiance généralisée. Dans cet article, nous soulevons un certain nombre d'arguments théoriques qu'il faut examiner avant de pouvoir généraliser ces résultats. D'abord il faut noter que la plupart de ces études se sont concentrées sur la confiance généralisée comme indicateur de capital social alors que la confiance est probablement particulièrement vulnérable aux effets d'une érosion de l'homogénéité. Deuxièmement, nous avançons que, pour mieux comprendre la relation entre diversité et capital social, trois variables intermédiaires au moins doivent être prises en considération : 1) l'existence d'une ségrégation des réseaux au niveau individuel du fait de la diversité; 2) l'augmentation de la diversité plutôt que son niveau absolu; 3) les régimes que les sociétés utilisent pour gouverner la diversité et surtout le degré d'ouverture de ces régimes. Pour finir, nous explorons la suggestion que, dans des sociétés plus diverses, la reconnaissance des différences et identités des groupes, et des relations inter-groupes basées sur des concepts d'égalité et de réciprocité devraient être considérées comme des stratégies potentiellement plus significatives.


2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahyudin Ahmad ◽  
Stephen G. Hall

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to attest whether generalized trust variable is the best proxy for social capital in explaining the latter’s effect on economic growth in a panel setting. Via a specially formulated theoretical framework, the authors also test whether the growth-effect of social capital is direct or indirect, and if it is indirect, can property rights be the link between social capital and growth. Design/methodology/approach The authors begin with testing the robustness of generalized trust variable in explaining the effect of social capital on growth and property rights. The authors then propose a number of trust-alternative variables that are shown to contain an element of trust based on theoretical arguments drawn from previous studies, to proxy for social capital and re-estimate its effect on growth and property rights. In this study, the authors use panel estimation technique, hitherto has been limited in social capital studies, which are capable of reducing omitted variable bias and time-invariant heterogeneity compared to the commonly used cross-sectional estimation. Findings First, the authors find that generalized trust data obtained by the World Value Survey (WVS) are unable to yield sufficiently robust results in panel estimation due to missing observations problem. Using the proposed trust-alternative variables, the estimation results improve significantly and the authors are able to show that social capital is a deep determinant of growth and it is affecting growth via property rights channel. The findings also give supporting evidence to the primacy of informal rules and constraints as proposed by North (2005) over the political prominence theory by Acemoglu et al. (2005). Research limitations/implications Generalized trust data obtained from the WVS, frequently used in majority of social capital studies to measure social capital, yield highly non-robust results in panel estimation due to missing observations problem. Future studies in social capital intending to use panel estimation therefore need to find trust-alternative variables to proxy for social capital, and this paper has proposed four such variables. Originality/value The use of panel estimation technique extends the evidence of social capital significance to economic growth and property rights, since the previous social capital studies rely heavily on cross-sectional estimation technique. Due to the availability of annual observations of the trust-alternative variables, this paper is able to find better results as compared to estimation using generalized trust data.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 209-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gil Viry ◽  
Olga Ganjour ◽  
Jacques-Antoine Gauthier ◽  
Emmanuel Ravalet ◽  
Eric D. Widmer

There are concerns that migrants may be embedded in far-flung networks with support being less collective. The spatial dispersion of their relatives and friends would result in fragmented networks with lower solidarity and lower mutual trust than densely connected networks based on geographical proximity. This may be particularly true for migrants who rarely meet their relatives and friends face-to-face. Yet, it is unclear what role, if any, distant visits play in migrants’ social capital. This article examines these issues using representative data from Switzerland and a combination of network and sequence analysis. Results show that migrants have more spatially dispersed networks, which, in turn, are associated with higher number of emotional support ties compared to respondents with spatially close networks, yet they are characterised by low cohesion and low trust. Distant visits only partly moderate the influence of spatial dispersion on social capital. People who frequently visit or host their far-flung relatives and friends have more transitive networks and fewer supportive ties than those who see them less often, but they do not have higher trust in them. Overall, distant visits have relatively little impact on social capital, suggesting a network effect that goes beyond dyadic relationships.


2022 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Le Yang ◽  
Hongman Wang ◽  
Jingmin Cheng

Abstract Objective Sleep disturbances are great challenges to older adults’ health promotion. The study tested gender differences in the association between different dimensions of social capital and self-reported sleep duration of Chinese rural older adults. Design The data of rural older adults were extracted from a national cross-sectional survey of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) and analyzed in this study. Setting CLHLS covered 23 provinces in China. Participants The 6552 rural respondents aged ≥65 years old were involved. Main outcome measures Generalized trust, informal social participation, formal social participation and social support were used to assess social capital. Self-reported sleep duration was measured as health outcome. Results Low level of generalized trust had harmful effect on insufficient sleep (AOR 1.110, 95% CI 1.018-1.324), and having no formal or informal social participation was significantly positively associated with long sleep (AORformal 1.424, 95% CI 1.007-2.013; AORinformal 1.241, 95% CI 1.016-1.516). Rural older female adults with no emotional social support had higher odds of insufficient sleep (AOR 1.502, 95% CI 1.258-1.978). Meanwhile, both informal and formal social participation showed inverse association with long sleep for females. Conclusions This study found the relationship between social capital, sleep duration and the gender differences in Chinese rural older adults. More targeted sleep disturbance interventions could be taken in social capital of rural older adults, and gender differences should be considered when making social capital-embedded health promotion policies and interventions.


2020 ◽  
pp. 001139212094892
Author(s):  
Gaëlle Aeby ◽  
Jacques-Antoine Gauthier ◽  
Eric D Widmer

This article investigates the association between personal networks and stress, both positively through support and negatively through conflict. In a representative sample of 755 individuals residing in Switzerland, each individual was asked to name people in their lives who they perceived as very important, as well as to report their mutual support and conflict interactions. First, the article develops and investigates a typology with five relational patterns based on indicators of emotional support and conflict relationships in personal networks. These patterns are the following: bonding social capital, bridging social capital, ego-centered conflict, overload, and ambivalent. Second, it explores the association of these patterns with stress levels that are perceived in various life domains. Results show that individuals involved in relationships that were predominantly supportive had lower levels of stress, whereas individuals experiencing relationships characterized by conflict, or an imbalance in support by giving more than receiving, had higher levels of stress. Finally, ambivalent relationships in which support and conflict were equally present were associated with an intermediate level of stress. These results show the importance of considering support and conflict relationships together in personal network structures.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1733 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beata Łopaciuk-Gonczaryk

A shortage of social capital may hinder sustainable development. According to the “social capital dream” there is a virtuous circle between participation in social networks, trust, and cooperation. It is a promising idea for proponents of sustainability, as it is easier to promote participation than affect social norms. Participation may, however, lead to particularized and not generalized trust, which hinders social inclusion and undermines the idea of a sustainable society. The aim of this paper is to validate the role of participation in informal and formal social networks in enhancing social trust and respect towards others. The relevance of both strong and weak ties is considered. Fixed-effects modeling on three-wave data from a Polish social survey is utilized. An increase in generalized trust corresponds with an increase in the acquaintances network, a decrease in the family and friends network, and an increase in volunteering. A rise in expectations about the cooperativeness of others is enhanced by an increase in the family and friends network, and by volunteering. The lack of respect for some groups of people is not affected by participation in organizations and informal networks. Overall within-person heterogeneity is small, suggesting that possibilities for fostering moral trust by participation are limited.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document