Does Social Capital Promote Health?

Association of community-level social capital with dementia: A multilevel nine-year longitudinal study using data from the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study

BACKGROUND

Individual-level social capital prevents cognitive decline. However, a few studies have focused on the effects of community-level social capital on dementia. Therefore, we investigated the association between community-level social capital and dementia onset based on longitudinal study data on older adults in Japan.

METHODS

We used longitudinal data from the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study, obtained over nine years (2010-2019). In total, 35,921 physically and cognitively independent individuals (16,848 males and 19,073 females) aged ≥65 years and nested within 308 communities in seven municipalities participated in the study. Dementia onset was assessed using the public long-term care insurance registration. Social capital was assessed using three dimensions: civic participation, social cohesion, and reciprocity. We performed a two-level multilevel survival analysis stratified by sex, calculated hazard ratios (HRs), and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

RESULTS

During the follow-up, 6245 (17.4%) dementia onset cases were identified. The cumulative incidence of dementia was 16.2% in males and 18.4% in females. After adjusting for covariates, individual-level civic participation was associated with a lower incidence of dementia in both males and females (HR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.77-0.92; HR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.73-0.84). Community-level civic participation and social cohesion were associated with a lower incidence of dementia among females (HR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.93-0.99; HR, 0.93; 95% CI, 0.88-0.98) and cross-level interaction on social cohesion among females (HR, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.90-0.99).

CONCLUSIONS

Living in a community with high civic participation and social cohesion is associated with a lower incidence of dementia among older females. Therefore, promoting civic participation and social cohesion in the community may be a useful population-based strategy to delay or prevent the onset of dementia.

Effect of childbearing-age women's family status on the health status of three generations: evidence from China

It is widely recognized that inequalities in social status cause inequalities in health. Women in a family often directly influence three generations-women themselves, their children and their parents -yet the effect of women's family status on their own health status and that of the two generations before and after is not clear. Taking data from the China Family Panel Studies, this study used an ordered response model to investigate the effect of childbearing-age women's family status on the health status of three generations. The results showed that increases in childbearing-age women's family status improved the health status of the women themselves and their children. Unlike previous studies, however, we found that higher family status did not improve parents' health status but decreased it. The mechanism analysis indicated that women's family status influenced the health status of three generations through economic conditions, resource allocation, and child discipline. The results held after robustness testing. Our findings contribute to knowledge in related fields and provide theoretical support for policies that empower women.

The relationship between social capital and health from a configuration perspective: an evidence from China

BACKGROUND

The debate on the relationship between social capital and health is still ongoing. To enhance previous research, this study uses data drawn from China to analyse the situations in which social capital is related to good health and the various configurations that result in good health outcomes.

METHODS

Using the data of China Family Panel Studies, the conditions of age, gender, marriage, education, income, structural social capital and cognitive social capital were included to analyse the sufficient and necessary conditions for achieving good general health and their different configurations using the fsQCA method.

RESULTS

None of the listed conditions were prerequisites for excellent general health in terms of either their presence or their absence. The sufficiency analysis found 11 configurations with an average of 3-4 conditions per configuration; in no configuration was the condition of social capital present alone. Structured social capital and cognitive social capital exhibited negative states in configurations 1 and 2, respectively. The most prevalent factor in all configurations was the condition of age.

CONCLUSIONS

The relationship between social capital and health is both positive and negative, with cognitive social capital playing a larger role in the positive relationship than structural social capital. Social capital is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for health, and it must be combined with a variety of other factors to promote health. A variety of methods can be used to promote an individual's health, as different populations require different approaches to good general health, and no single pathway applies to all populations. In the Chinese population, an individual's age is a significant determinant of their health status.

Heterogeneity Influence of Financial Digitalization and Inclusion on Employees’ Psychological States

Digital inclusive finance (DIF) has the power to spawn a new system of Internet finance and realize financial inclusion. However, the role of DIF in improving the health status of individuals is largely unknown. This study aims to demonstrate whether and how the development of DIF impacts the mental health of Chinese employees. This paper performs an empirical study based on the city-level data of the digital inclusive financial index with the China family panel studies. Ordinary least squares (OLS), probit models and mediation techniques are employed with appropriate instruments to alleviate endogeneity concerns. The results show that DIF can help employees improve their mental health. The results were robust to a variety of checks. Moreover, increasing income is the main pathway in which DIF improves individual mental health. Finally, it also reveals the heterogeneous effects of DIF on individual mental health. That is, the use depth of DIF has a significant positive effect on mental health status, but not on other sub-indicators, such as coverage breadth and degree of digital service provision; on those vulnerable groups containing females and employees with low education, its decisive role is larger than their counterparts who are males and have high levels of education. These results highlight the vital role of DIF in improving the mental health status of individuals. Consequently, there is a need to strengthen the construction of financial infrastructure and achieve a deeper integration of the financial system with digital technologies.