Cargando…

Neighborhood differences in social capital in Ghent (Belgium): a multilevel approach

BACKGROUND: Little research has focused on the spatial distribution of social capital, despite social capital’s rising popularity in health research and policy. This study examines the neighborhood differences in social capital and the determinants that explain these differences. METHODS: Five compo...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Neutens, Tijs, Vyncke, Veerle, De Winter, Dieter, Willems, Sara
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3833648/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24225005
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1476-072X-12-52
_version_ 1782291874744107008
author Neutens, Tijs
Vyncke, Veerle
De Winter, Dieter
Willems, Sara
author_facet Neutens, Tijs
Vyncke, Veerle
De Winter, Dieter
Willems, Sara
author_sort Neutens, Tijs
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Little research has focused on the spatial distribution of social capital, despite social capital’s rising popularity in health research and policy. This study examines the neighborhood differences in social capital and the determinants that explain these differences. METHODS: Five components of neighborhood social capital are identified by means of factor and reliability analyses using data collected in the cross-sectional SWING study from 762 inhabitants in 42 neighbourhoods in the city of Ghent (Belgium). Neighborhood differences in social capital are explored using hierarchical linear models with cross-level interactions. RESULTS: Significant neighborhood differences are found for social cohesion, informal social control and social support, but not for social leverage and generalized trust. Our findings suggest that neighborhood social capital depends on both characteristics of individuals living in the neighborhood (attachment to neighborhood) and characteristics of the neighborhood itself (deprivation and residential turnover). Our analysis further shows that neighborhood deprivation reinforces the negative effect of declining neighborhood attachment on social cohesion and informal social control. CONCLUSIONS: This study foregrounds the importance of contextual effects in encouraging neighborhood social capital. Given the importance of neighborhood-level characteristics, it can be anticipated social capital promoting initiatives are likely to be more effective when tailored to specific areas. Second, our analyses show that not all forms of social capital are influenced by contextual factors to the same extent, implying that changes in neighborhood characteristics are conducive to, say, trust while leaving social support unaffected. Finally, our analysis has demonstrated that complex interrelationships between individual- and neighborhood–level variables exist, which are often overlooked in current work.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-3833648
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2013
publisher BioMed Central
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-38336482013-11-20 Neighborhood differences in social capital in Ghent (Belgium): a multilevel approach Neutens, Tijs Vyncke, Veerle De Winter, Dieter Willems, Sara Int J Health Geogr Research BACKGROUND: Little research has focused on the spatial distribution of social capital, despite social capital’s rising popularity in health research and policy. This study examines the neighborhood differences in social capital and the determinants that explain these differences. METHODS: Five components of neighborhood social capital are identified by means of factor and reliability analyses using data collected in the cross-sectional SWING study from 762 inhabitants in 42 neighbourhoods in the city of Ghent (Belgium). Neighborhood differences in social capital are explored using hierarchical linear models with cross-level interactions. RESULTS: Significant neighborhood differences are found for social cohesion, informal social control and social support, but not for social leverage and generalized trust. Our findings suggest that neighborhood social capital depends on both characteristics of individuals living in the neighborhood (attachment to neighborhood) and characteristics of the neighborhood itself (deprivation and residential turnover). Our analysis further shows that neighborhood deprivation reinforces the negative effect of declining neighborhood attachment on social cohesion and informal social control. CONCLUSIONS: This study foregrounds the importance of contextual effects in encouraging neighborhood social capital. Given the importance of neighborhood-level characteristics, it can be anticipated social capital promoting initiatives are likely to be more effective when tailored to specific areas. Second, our analyses show that not all forms of social capital are influenced by contextual factors to the same extent, implying that changes in neighborhood characteristics are conducive to, say, trust while leaving social support unaffected. Finally, our analysis has demonstrated that complex interrelationships between individual- and neighborhood–level variables exist, which are often overlooked in current work. BioMed Central 2013-11-13 /pmc/articles/PMC3833648/ /pubmed/24225005 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1476-072X-12-52 Text en Copyright © 2013 Neutens et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research
Neutens, Tijs
Vyncke, Veerle
De Winter, Dieter
Willems, Sara
Neighborhood differences in social capital in Ghent (Belgium): a multilevel approach
title Neighborhood differences in social capital in Ghent (Belgium): a multilevel approach
title_full Neighborhood differences in social capital in Ghent (Belgium): a multilevel approach
title_fullStr Neighborhood differences in social capital in Ghent (Belgium): a multilevel approach
title_full_unstemmed Neighborhood differences in social capital in Ghent (Belgium): a multilevel approach
title_short Neighborhood differences in social capital in Ghent (Belgium): a multilevel approach
title_sort neighborhood differences in social capital in ghent (belgium): a multilevel approach
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3833648/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24225005
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1476-072X-12-52
work_keys_str_mv AT neutenstijs neighborhooddifferencesinsocialcapitalinghentbelgiumamultilevelapproach
AT vynckeveerle neighborhooddifferencesinsocialcapitalinghentbelgiumamultilevelapproach
AT dewinterdieter neighborhooddifferencesinsocialcapitalinghentbelgiumamultilevelapproach
AT willemssara neighborhooddifferencesinsocialcapitalinghentbelgiumamultilevelapproach