Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress 2023 EHA Congress 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The ONWARDS insulin icodec trials

A round-up of the ONWARDS phase 3 clinical trials evaluating the novel weekly insulin icodec in people with diabetes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
BMC Public Health
Published in: BMC Public Health 1/2015

Open Access 01-12-2015 | Research article

Investigating the relationship between self-rated health and social capital in South Africa: a multilevel panel data analysis

Authors: Yan Kwan Lau, John E Ataguba

Published in: BMC Public Health | Issue 1/2015

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

The relationship between social capital and self-rated health has been documented in many developed compared to developing countries. Because social capital and health play important roles in development, it may be valuable to study their relationship in the context of a developing country with poorer health status. Further, the role of social capital research for health policy has not received much attention. This paper therefore examines the relationship between social capital and health in South Africa, a country with the history of colonialism and apartheid that has contributed to the social disintegration and destruction of social capital.

Methods

This study uses data from the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS), the first nationally representative panel study in South Africa. Two waves of the NIDS were used in this paper – Wave 1 (2008) and Wave 2 (2010). Self-rated health, social capital (individual- and contextual-level), and other covariates related to the social determinants of health (SDH) were obtained from the NIDS. Individual-level social capital included group participation, personalised trust and generalised trust while contextual-level or neighbourhood-level social capital was obtained by aggregating from the individual-level and household-level social capital variables to the neighbourhood. Mixed effects models were fitted to predict self-rated health in Wave 2, using lagged covariates (from Wave 1).

Results

Individual personalised trust, individual community service group membership and neighbourhood personalised trust were beneficial to self-rated health. Reciprocity, associational activity and other types of group memberships were not found to be significantly associated with self-rated health in South Africa. Results indicate that both individual- and contextual-level social capital are associated with self-rated health.

Conclusion

Policy makers may want to consider policies that impact socioeconomic conditions as well as social capital. Some of these policies are linked to the SDH. We contend that the significant social capital including community service membership can be encouraged through policy in a way that is in line with the values of the people. This is likely to impact on health and quality of life generally and lead to a reduction in the burden of disease in South Africa considering the historic context of the country.
Literature
1.
Beaudoin CE. Bonding and bridging neighborliness: an individual-level study in the context of health. Soc Sci Med. 2009;68:2129–36.CrossRefPubMed
2.
Fujiwara T, Kawachi I. Social capital and health: a study of adult twins in the US. Am J Prev Med. 2008;35:139–44.CrossRefPubMed
3.
Giordano GN, Björk J, Lindström M. Social capital and self-rated health–a study of temporal (causal) relationships. Soc Sci Med. 2012;75:340–8.CrossRefPubMed
4.
Giordano GN, Lindstrom M. The impact of changes in different aspects of social capital and material conditions on self-rated health over time: a longitudinal cohort study. Soc Sci Med. 2010;70:700–10.CrossRefPubMed
5.
Han S. Compositional and contextual associations of social capital and self-rated health in Seoul, South Korea: a multilevel analysis of longitudinal evidence. Soc Sci Med. 2013;80:113–20.CrossRefPubMed
6.
Mohnen SM, Groenewegen PP, Völker B, Flap H. Neighborhood social capital and individual health. Soc Sci Med. 2011;72:660–7.CrossRefPubMed
7.
Woolcock M, Narayan D. Social capital: implications for development theory, research, and policy. World Bank Res Obs. 2000;15:225–49.CrossRef
8.
Szreter S, Woolcock M. Health by association? Social capital, social theory, and the political economy of public health. Int J Epidemiol. 2004;33:650–67.CrossRefPubMed
9.
Ferlander S. The importance of different forms of social capital for health. Acta Sociologica. 2007;50:115–28.CrossRef
10.
Bourdieu P. The forms of capital. In: Richardson JG, editor. Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press; 1986.
11.
Coleman JS. Foundations of social theory. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; 1990.
12.
Putnam RD. Bowling alone: America’s declining social capital. J Democr. 1995;6:65–78.CrossRef
13.
Ayé M, Champagne F, Contandriopoulos AP. Economic role of solidarity and social capital in accessing modern health care services in the Ivory Coast. Soc Sci Med. 2002;55:1929–46.CrossRefPubMed
14.
15.
Human Sciences Research Council. Social cohesion and social justice in South Africa. Human Sciences Research Council: Pretoria, South Africa; 2004.
16.
Ramphele M. Social disintegration in the black community: implications for transformation. Monitor: J Hum Rts Trust. 1991:7–16.
17.
Burns J. Wellbeing and social cohesion: analysis of the NIDS wave 1 dataset, discussion paper #7. Cape Town: Department of Economics, University of Cape Town; 2009.
18.
Islam MK, Merlo J, Kawachi I, Lindström M, Gerdtham U-G. Social capital and health: does egalitarianism matter? A literature review. Int J Equity Health. 2006;5:3.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
19.
World Bank. Gini index from World Databank: world development indicators. Washington D.C: World Bank; 2013.
20.
Campbell C, Williams B, Gilgen D. Is social capital a useful conceptual tool for exploring community level influences on HIV infection? An exploratory case study from South Africa. AIDS Care. 2002;14:41–54.CrossRefPubMed
21.
Cramm JM, Nieboer AP. The influence of social capital and socio-economic conditions on self-rated health among residents of an economically and health-deprived South African township. Int J Equity Health. 2011;10:1–7.CrossRef
22.
Gilbert L, Soskolne V. Self-assessed health—a case study of social differentials in Soweto, South Africa. Health Place. 2003;9:193–205.CrossRefPubMed
23.
Pronyk PM, Harpham T, Morison LA, Hargreaves JR, Kim JC, Phetla G, et al. Is social capital associated with HIV risk in rural South Africa? Soc Sci Med. 2008;66:1999–2010.CrossRefPubMed
24.
Chola L, Alaba O. Association of neighbourhood and individual social capital, neighbourhood economic deprivation and self-rated health in South Africa–a multi-level analysis. PLoS One. 2013;8:e71085.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
25.
Tomita A, Burns JK. A multilevel analysis of association between neighborhood social capital and depression: evidence from the first South African National Income Dynamics Study. J Affect Disord. 2013;144:101–5.CrossRefPubMed
26.
Uphoff N. Understanding social capital: learning from the analysis and experience of participation. In: Dasgupta P, Serageldin I, editors. Social capital: a multifaceted perspective. Washington D.C: World Bank; 1999.
27.
Leibbrandt M, Woolard I, De Villiers L. Methodology: report on NIDS wave 1. Technical paper 1. Cape Town: Southern Africa Labour and Development Research, University of Cape Town; 2009.
28.
Brown M, Daniels R, De Villiers L, Leibbrandt M, Woolard I. National income dynamics study wave 2 user manual. Cape Town: Southern Africa Labour and Development Research; 2012.
29.
30.
Kim D, Subramanian S, Kawachi I. Bonding versus bridging social capital and their associations with self rated health: a multilevel analysis of 40 US communities. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2006;60:116–22.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
31.
Lamarca GA, do C Leal M, Sheiham A, Vettore MV. The association of neighbourhood and individual social capital with consistent self-rated health: a longitudinal study in Brazilian pregnant and postpartum women. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2013;13:1.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
32.
Cronbach LJ. Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika. 1951;16:297–334.CrossRef
33.
Idler EL, Benyamini Y. Self-rated health and mortality: a review of twenty-seven community studies. J Health Soc Behav. 1997;21:21–37.CrossRef
34.
DeSalvo KB, Bloser N, Reynolds K, He J, Muntner P. Mortality prediction with a single general self‐rated health question. J Gen Intern Med. 2006;21:267–75.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
35.
Ardington C, Gasealahwe B. Health: analysis of the NIDS wave 1 and 2 datasets, working paper #80. Cape Town: Southern Africa Labour and Development Research, University of Cape Town; 2012.
36.
Schulze W. The origin and legal nature of the Stokvel (Part 1). S Afr Merc LJ. 1997;9:18–29.
37.
Maluccio J, Haddad L, May J. Social capital and household welfare in South Africa, 1993–98. J Dev Stud. 2000;36:54–81.CrossRef
38.
von Maltitz MJ. The relationship between social capital, welfare and health in South Africa. Economic and Management Sciences: University of Free State; 2005.
39.
Filmer D, Pritchett L. Estimating wealth effects without expenditure data-or tears: an application to educational enrollments in states of India. Demography. 2001;38:115–32.PubMed
40.
Wright G, Noble M. The South African Index of Multiple Deprivation 2007 at municipality level (technical report). Pretoria, South Africa: Department of Social Development; 2009.
41.
United Nations Development Programme. South Africa Human Development Report 2003. The challenge of sustainable development in South Africa: unlocking people’s creativity. Cape Town: Oxford University Press; 2003.
42.
O’Donnell O, Van Doorslaer E, Wagstaff A, Lindelow M. Analyzing health equity using household survey data: a guide to techniques and their implementation. Washington DC: World Bank; 2008.
43.
StataCorp. Stata: release 11 - statistical software. College Station, TX: StataCorp LP; 2009.
44.
Kavanagh AM, Turrell G, Subramanian S. Does area-based social capital matter for the health of Australians? A multilevel analysis of self-rated health in Tasmania. Int J Epidemiol. 2006;35:607–13.CrossRefPubMed
45.
Poortinga W. Community resilience and health: the role of bonding, bridging, and linking aspects of social capital. Health Place. 2012;18:286–95.CrossRefPubMed
46.
Van der Gaag M, Webber M. Measurement of individual social capital. In: Kawachi I, Subramanian SV, Kim D, editors. Social capital and health. New York: Springer; 2008. p. 29–49.CrossRef
47.
Harpham T, Grant E, Thomas E. Measuring social capital within health surveys: key issues. Health Policy Plan. 2002;17:106–11.CrossRefPubMed
48.
Hurtado D, Kawachi I, Sudarsky J. Social capital and self-rated health in Colombia: the good, the bad and the ugly. Soc Sci Med. 2011;72:584–90.CrossRefPubMed
49.
Marmot M. Introduction. In: Marmot M, Wilkinson R, editors. Social determinants of health. New York: Oxford University Press; 2005.CrossRef
50.
Marmot M, Friel S, Bell R, Houweling T, Taylor S. Closing the gap in a generation: health equity through action on the social determinants of health. Lancet. 2008;372:1661–9.CrossRefPubMed
51.
García EL, Banegas J, Pérez-Regadera AG, Cabrera RH, Rodríguez-Artalejo F. Social network and health-related quality of life in older adults: a population-based study in Spain. Qual Life Res. 2005;14:511–20.CrossRefPubMed
52.
Glaeser EL, Laibson D, Sacerdote B. An economic approach to social capital. Econ J. 2002;112:F437–58.CrossRef
53.
54.
Metadata
Title
Investigating the relationship between self-rated health and social capital in South Africa: a multilevel panel data analysis
Authors
Yan Kwan Lau
John E Ataguba
Publication date
01-12-2015
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Public Health / Issue 1/2015
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2458
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-015-1601-0

Other articles of this Issue 1/2015

BMC Public Health 1/2015 Go to the issue

Research article

Income adequacy and education associated with the prevalence of obesity in rural Saskatchewan, Canada

Research article

Population-based survey of overweight and obesity and the associated factors in peri-urban and rural Eastern Uganda

Study protocol

Strengthening HIV surveillance in the antiretroviral therapy era: rationale and design of a longitudinal study to monitor HIV prevalence and incidence in the uMgungundlovu District, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Research article

Factors associated with preventive behaviors regarding Lyme disease in Canada and Switzerland: a comparative study

Research article

Self-perceived stress is associated with adiposity and atherosclerosis. The GEA Study

Research article

Children’s implicit recall of junk food, alcohol and gambling sponsorship in Australian sport