Social Capital and Health: Analysis of Data from 27 European Countries from European Social Survey

Hynek Pikhart, UCL University College London
Jitka Pikhartova, University College London
Bianda Pramudita, University College London

Background: Although the association between social capital and different health outcomes has been previously studied, the role of different dimensions of social capital, and the role of individual-, community- and country-level social factors in this association is still not clear. Aim: To evaluate the relationship between social capital, its dimensions and perceived health across European region in past 20 years, and to assess the role of individual socioeconomic factors and country-level social characteristics in this association. Methods: Data from 370,000 adults from 27 European countries come from 10 waves of the European Social Survey (2002-2020). Measure of social capital included personal relationships, social networks and social support, civic engagement, trust and cooperative norms. Its association with perceived health was assessed by multivariable multilevel regression modelling. Results: Low social capital was associated with increased odds of perceived poor health, even when adjusted for individual and country-level characteristics (OR 1.32, 95%CI 1.30-1.34). This association varied very little over time, before, during or after the period of economic adversity. Discussion: The negative effect of low social capital has been shown to only moderately vary within European region and over the time. The role of individual social characteristics seems more important than country-level characteristics.

Keywords: Health and Morbidity, Multi-level modeling , Inequality, Disadvantage and Discrimination, Population, Shocks and Pandemics

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