A systematic review of the relationships between social capital and socioeconomic inequalities in health: a contribution to understanding the psychosocial pathway of health inequalities

International Journal for Equity in Health

Research

John Wright¹  Eleonora P Uphoff²  Kate E Pickett²  Baltica Cabieses³  Neil Small⁴ 

[1] Bradford Institute for Health Research, Bradford Royal Infirmary, Bradford BD9 6RJ, Duckworth Lane, UK;Department of Health Sciences, University of York, York YO10 5DD, Seebohm Rowntree Building, UK;Department of Health Sciences, University of York, York YO10 5DD, Seebohm Rowntree Building, UK;Faculty of Medicine Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile;School of Health Studies, University of Bradford, Richmond Road, Bradford BD7 1DP, UK;

关键词: Social Capital;    Health Inequality;    Cultural Capital;    Socioeconomic Inequality;    Bonding Social Capital;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1475-9276-12-54

 received in 2013-02-01, accepted in 2013-07-09,  发布年份 2013

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

IntroductionRecent research on health inequalities moves beyond illustrating the importance of psychosocial factors for health to a more in-depth study of the specific psychosocial pathways involved. Social capital is a concept that captures both a buffer function of the social environment on health, as well as potential negative effects arising from social inequality and exclusion. This systematic review assesses the current evidence, and identifies gaps in knowledge, on the associations and interactions between social capital and socioeconomic inequalities in health.MethodsThrough this systematic review we identified studies on the interactions between social capital and socioeconomic inequalities in health published before July 2012.ResultsThe literature search resulted in 618 studies after removal of duplicates, of which 60 studies were eligible for analysis. Self-reported measures of health were most frequently used, together with different bonding, bridging and linking components of social capital. A large majority, 56 studies, confirmed a correlation between social capital and socioeconomic inequalities in health. Twelve studies reported that social capital might buffer negative health effects of low socioeconomic status and five studies concluded that social capital has a stronger positive effect on health for people with a lower socioeconomic status.ConclusionsThere is evidence for both a buffer effect and a dependency effect of social capital on socioeconomic inequalities in health, although the studies that assess these interactions are limited in number. More evidence is needed, as identified hypotheses have implications for community action and for action on the structural causes of social inequalities.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Uphoff et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2013