Cargando…

Social capital and self-rated health in 21 European countries

Study objective: The aim of this paper is to explore the association between social capital and self-rated health in different European countries. Methods: For the cross sectional, comparative analyses data from 21 European countries were used. 40,856 people aged 15 years and older were personally i...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: von dem Knesebeck, Olaf, Dragano, Nico, Siegrist, Johannes
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: German Medical Science 2005
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2736491/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19742061
_version_ 1782171335059832832
author von dem Knesebeck, Olaf
Dragano, Nico
Siegrist, Johannes
author_facet von dem Knesebeck, Olaf
Dragano, Nico
Siegrist, Johannes
author_sort von dem Knesebeck, Olaf
collection PubMed
description Study objective: The aim of this paper is to explore the association between social capital and self-rated health in different European countries. Methods: For the cross sectional, comparative analyses data from 21 European countries were used. 40,856 people aged 15 years and older were personally interviewed in 2003 (European Social Survey). Perceptions of social trust, and membership, participation and voluntary work in civic organisations were used as social capital indicators. Analyses are conducted on an aggregate level (country) and on an individual level. Main results: Results indicate comparatively low levels of social capital in East and South European countries. Countries with low levels of social capital have a high percentage of residents reporting poor health. Social capital is significantly associated with self-rated health in most of the European countries on the individual level after accounting for gender and age. However, additional adjustment for socio-economic status results in a decrease of the associations between activities in voluntary organisations and health. Further adjustment for social contacts and emotional support results in only minor changes of the associations. Conclusions: Analyses reveal strong correlations between social capital and self-rated health in a number of European countries on the aggregate level. Associations on the individual level are weaker in East and South European countries. Moreover, association of self-rated health with perceptions of social trust seems to be more consistent than with activities in voluntary organisations.
format Text
id pubmed-2736491
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2005
publisher German Medical Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-27364912009-09-08 Social capital and self-rated health in 21 European countries von dem Knesebeck, Olaf Dragano, Nico Siegrist, Johannes Psychosoc Med Article Study objective: The aim of this paper is to explore the association between social capital and self-rated health in different European countries. Methods: For the cross sectional, comparative analyses data from 21 European countries were used. 40,856 people aged 15 years and older were personally interviewed in 2003 (European Social Survey). Perceptions of social trust, and membership, participation and voluntary work in civic organisations were used as social capital indicators. Analyses are conducted on an aggregate level (country) and on an individual level. Main results: Results indicate comparatively low levels of social capital in East and South European countries. Countries with low levels of social capital have a high percentage of residents reporting poor health. Social capital is significantly associated with self-rated health in most of the European countries on the individual level after accounting for gender and age. However, additional adjustment for socio-economic status results in a decrease of the associations between activities in voluntary organisations and health. Further adjustment for social contacts and emotional support results in only minor changes of the associations. Conclusions: Analyses reveal strong correlations between social capital and self-rated health in a number of European countries on the aggregate level. Associations on the individual level are weaker in East and South European countries. Moreover, association of self-rated health with perceptions of social trust seems to be more consistent than with activities in voluntary organisations. German Medical Science 2005-02-23 /pmc/articles/PMC2736491/ /pubmed/19742061 Text en Copyright © 2005 von dem Knesebeck et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Article
von dem Knesebeck, Olaf
Dragano, Nico
Siegrist, Johannes
Social capital and self-rated health in 21 European countries
title Social capital and self-rated health in 21 European countries
title_full Social capital and self-rated health in 21 European countries
title_fullStr Social capital and self-rated health in 21 European countries
title_full_unstemmed Social capital and self-rated health in 21 European countries
title_short Social capital and self-rated health in 21 European countries
title_sort social capital and self-rated health in 21 european countries
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2736491/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19742061
work_keys_str_mv AT vondemknesebeckolaf socialcapitalandselfratedhealthin21europeancountries
AT draganonico socialcapitalandselfratedhealthin21europeancountries
AT siegristjohannes socialcapitalandselfratedhealthin21europeancountries