Healthy Ties (eBook)

Preface 4
A Personal Odyssey 4
How to Study Healthy Ties? 4
World-Wide Problem of Health Inequity and Social Capital 6
Methodological Challenges 7
Contents 9
1 What Is Social Capital? 4
Who Discovered It? 12
Theoretical Foundations 14
Neo-Aristotelian Concepts of Social Capital 16
Social Practices 18
2 Definitions and Forms of Social Capital 19
Network Social Capital 19
Communitarian Social Capital 20
Functional Social Capital 21
Critical Voices 21
Common Aspects of Social Capital 23
Structural and Cognitive Dimensions 26
Why to Use the Concept of Social Capital? 27
3 Measuring Social Capital 30
Operationalization 30
Indicators and Measures 33
Network Measures 34
Measures of Social Trust, Reciprocity and Norms 37
Collective or Individual Indicators? 39
Social Capital Measures for Health Research 40
Qualitative Methods 45
4 Social Participation 47
Significance of Social Participation 47
Epidemiology of Social Participation 48
5 How Does Cultural Participation Contribute to Social Capital and Well-Being? 51
From Cultural Capital to Social Capital 51
Cultural Activity and Well-Being 53
Cultural Participation, Public Space and Social Capital 55
Cultural Experiences in Therapeutic Use 56
Cultural Attendance and Survival 57
Causality Issues Regarding Cultural Capital and Health 58
6 Social Trust, Mistrust and Reciprocity 62
Definitions of Trust and Mistrust 62
Interpersonal Trust and Mistrust 64
Measuring Reciprocity 65
Social Trust/Mistrust in Relation to Population Health 66
7 Cross-Sectional Studies of Social Capital and Health 70
Studies on Social Capital and Public Health 70
Accumulating Research in the Field 72
Social Capital and Psychological Well-Being 78
8 Prospective Longitudinal Surveys 82
Social Participation and Survival 82
Social Capital and Health Outcomes 87
9 Healthy Communities 91
Inequality in Population Health 91
Two Famous Exceptions 92
The Third Exception 93
A Community Rich in Social Capital 95
Combining the Individual and Communitarian Approaches 99
10 Social Capital and Health from Cradle to Grave 101
Social Capital and Health in Childhood and Adolescence 101
Social Capital in Working Life 103
Social Capital and Aging-Related Health 104
Social Capital and Health in Older Populations 105
Prospective Studies in Older Populations 107
Okinawa Revisited 109
11 Gendering Social Capital and Population Health 110
Gendered Theory of Social Capital 110
Gendered Dimensions of Social Capital 111
Gendered Associations Between Social Capital and Health 112
Gendered Associations Between Social Capital and Survival 114
12 Health-Related Behaviors 117
Mediators of Social Capital 117
Health-Related Behaviors as Mediators 119
Physical Activity 120
Diet 122
Sleep 123
Smoking 125
Alcohol Consumption 126
Direct Associations or Mediation? 127
13 Proposed Biological Mediating Mechanisms 128
Biological Pathways 128
Social Capital in Animal Studies 129
Social Brain 130
From Social Brain to Social Behavior 130
Allostatic Load 132
14 Emergent Social Capital 133
Anthropological Considerations 133
From the Basic Culture to a Socializing Childhood 134
Genes and Environment 135
15 Implications and Implementations 137
Recommendations 137
Can Social Capital Be Built? 138
Building Community Social Capital 139
Empowerment by Social Capital 141
The Role of Arts and Cultural Engagement 143
Ethical Issues 144
Closing Remarks 145
References 147
Index 161