Social capital and health among older adults in South Africa

BMC Geriatrics

Research Article

Shandir Ramlagan¹  Karl Peltzer²  Nancy Phaswana-Mafuya³ 

[1] HIV/AIDS/STIs and TB (HAST), Human Sciences Research Council, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth, South Africa;HIV/AIDS/STIs and TB (HAST), Human Sciences Research Council, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth, South Africa;Department of Psychology, University of Limpopo, Turfloop, South Africa;ASEAN Institute for Health Development, Mahidol University, Salaya, Thailand;HIV/AIDS/STIs and TB (HAST), Human Sciences Research Council, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth, South Africa;Office of the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa;

关键词: Social capital;    Self-reported health;    Depressive symptoms;    Cognitive functioning;    Physical inactivity;    Older adults;    South Africa;    WHO SAGE;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2318-13-100

 received in 2013-03-14, accepted in 2013-09-26,  发布年份 2013

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundLittle is known about social capital and health among older adults in South Africa. This study investigates the association between social capital and several health variables, namely: self-rated health, depressive symptoms, cognitive functioning and physical inactivity, among older South Africans.MethodsWe conducted a national population-based cross-sectional study with a national probability sample of 3840 individuals aged 50 years or older who participated in the Study of Global Ageing and Adults Health (SAGE wave 1) in 2008 in South Africa. Measures included socio-demographic characteristics, health variables, cognitive functioning and physical activity. Social capital was assessed with six components, namely: marital status, social action, sociability, trust and solidarity, safety, and civic engagement.ResultsThe social capital assessment revealed that 56% of the respondents were married or cohabiting, 45% reported low (0) social action, 42% reported medium (2–3) sociability, 43% reported high (2) trust and solidarity, 50% reported high (2–4) civic engagement and 42% reported medium (6) psychological resources. In multivariate analysis, self-reported good health was associated with younger age, having secondary education and higher social capital (being married or cohabiting, high trust and solidarity and greater psychological resources). Depressive symptoms were associated with lower social capital (not being married or cohabiting, lack of high trust and solidarity and low psychological resources). Better cognitive functioning was associated with younger age, higher educational level, greater wealth and higher social capital (being married or cohabiting, high trust and solidarity, lack of safety, higher civic engagement and greater psychological resources). Physical inactivity was associated with older age and lower social capital (lower social action, lack of safety, lower civic engagement and poorer psychological resources).ConclusionsGiven the basis of these findings on cross sectional data and subsequent limitation, it was found that these study findings mimic the findings of many European and American studies. Social capital among the elderly generation in South Africa is imperative for better health.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Ramlagan et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2013. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.