Social capital and health of older Europeans: Causal pathways and health inequalities

Autor: Nicolas Sirven, Thierry Debrand
Přispěvatelé: Institut de Recherche et Documentation en Economie de la Santé (IRDES), Institut de la Recherche et Documentation en Economie de la Santé
Rok vydání: 2012
Předmět:
Health (social science)
Health Status
Population
03 medical and health sciences
MESH: Aged
80 and over
0302 clinical medicine
History and Philosophy of Science
Dummy variable
Probit model
Economics
Humans
030212 general & internal medicine
Social determinants of health
MESH: Models
Theoretical
Socioeconomics
education
Aged
Retrospective Studies
Aged
80 and over
MESH: Aged
education.field_of_study
MESH: Humans
MESH: Middle Aged
030503 health policy & services
Social Support
MESH: Retrospective Studies
Health Status Disparities
Middle Aged
Models
Theoretical
Social mobility
Mental health
MESH: Health Status
Health equity
Europe
MESH: Health Status Disparities
MESH: Social Support
[SDV.SPEE]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Santé publique et épidémiologie
Demographic economics
MESH: Europe
0305 other medical science
Social capital
Zdroj: Social science & medicine
Social science & medicine, Elsevier, 2012, 75 (7), pp.1288-1295. ⟨10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.05.009⟩
ISSN: 0277-9536
0037-7856
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.05.009
Popis: International audience; This study uses a time-based approach to examine the causal relationship (Granger-like) between health and social capital for older people in Europe. We use panel data from waves 1 and 2 of SHARE (the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe) for the analysis. Additional wave 3 data on retrospective life histories (SHARELIFE) are used to model the initial conditions in the model. For each of the first 2 waves, a dummy variable for involvement in social activities (voluntary associations, church, social clubs, etc.) is used as a proxy for social capital as involvement in Putnamesque associations; and seven health dichotomous variables are retained, covering a wide range of physical and mental health measures. A bivariate recursive Probit model is used to simultaneously investigate (i) the influence of baseline social capital on current health - controlling for baseline health and other current covariates, and (ii) the impact of baseline health on current participation in social activities - controlling for baseline social capital and other current covariates. As expected, we account for a reversed causal effect: individual social capital has a causal beneficial impact on health and vice-versa. However, the effect of health on social capital appears to be significantly higher than the social capital effect on health. These results indicate that the sub-population reaching 50 years old in good health has a higher propensity to take part in social activities and to benefit from it. Conversely, the other part of the population in poor health at 50, may see their health worsening faster because of the missing beneficial effect of social capital. Social capital may therefore be a potential vector of health inequalities for the older population.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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