Social Capital Role in Managing High Risk Behavior: a Narrative Review

BACKGROUND: Social capital as a social context based concept is a new component in addition to the previous factors including the biologic–environmental, the genetic and the individual behavior factors that influence health and society. Social capital refers to the information that makes people believe being interesting & being paid attention to, & respected, valued, and belonging to a network of bilateral relations. Health issue is greatly affected by the existence of social capital. High risk behaviors refer to the ones enhancing the probability of negative and devastating physical, psychological and social consequences for an individual. Negative & overwhelming results mean keeping one’s distance from social norms as a result rejection and labeling (social stigma) and finally, to distance oneself from the benefits of social life in the individuals with high risk behaviors. The present study reviews social capital in the groups having high risk behaviors. METHODS: The present study is a narrative review in which researchers conducted their computer search in public databases like Google Scholar, and more specifically in Pubmed, Magiran, SID, Springer, Science Direct, and ProQuest using the keywords: social capital, social support, risk behaviors, addicts, HIV, AIDS, and selected the articles related to the study subject from 2004 to 2014. Overall 96 articles have been searched. Researchers reviewed the summary of all articles searched, & ultimately, they applied the data from 20 full articles to compile this review paper. RESULTS: Article review results led to organizing the subjects into 6 general categories: Social capital and its role in health; Social capital in groups with high risk behaviors (Including: substance abusers, AIDS patients, the homeless and multi-partner women); Social capital in different social groups; measurement tools for social capital and risk behaviors; the role of health in helping people with risky behaviors with the focus on improving social capital and social support. The findings of this study indicate that social capital was significantly lower in the substance abusers than the non-addicts. Also, social participation, social trust and networks of social relationships were significantly lower than non-drug abusers. Social capital has interactive effects on risky behaviors and delinquency. On the one hand, high levels of social capital can be involved in preventing delinquency. On the other hand, creating negative social capital in high risk groups is also considered as the damaging effects of the negative aspects of social capital in these groups. CONCLUSIONS: From this review extracted findings, it can be concluded that to design risky behaviors programs and preventive interventions, social capital and social support should be considered more than before. To accept an addict or HIV sufferer is effective in reducing their psychological reactions. So with effective social interaction and social support, these people can improve their risky lifestyles. As a result, these changes are associated with higher levels of satisfaction with their lives. Finally, it is recommended to design and implement counseling programs in order to educate health-promoting behaviors in high risk groups focusing on social capital and social support.