Objectives: Research into the social determinants of health inequalities is increasingly focusing on macro-level forces affecting individuals and communities. The concept of social capital has been at the centre of this research as a potential explanatory framework for understanding these inequalities. The aim of this study was to identify the components that define social capital and its relationship to self-reported health in two neighbourhoods known to be disadvantaged in south-western Sydney.
Methods: This study uses data from cross-sectional household (door-knock) surveys originally developed as evaluation tools for neighbourhood based interventions. Secondary analyses including factor analysis and multiple regression analysis were used to provide empirical evidence of the components defining social capital and how these, as a concept, were associated with self-reported health.
Results: The study revealed six common social capital components in each sample and an additional component in one neighbourhood. These included neighbourhood attachment, support networks, feelings of trust and reciprocity, local engagement, personal attachment to the area, feelings about safety and proactivity in the social context. The social capital model incorporating demographic and socio-economic characteristics explained 23.4% of health variance in one neighbourhood, and 19.3% in the other. Examining the social capital:health relationship revealed that with the exception of feelings of trust and reciprocity, no other social capital component made significant contributions to explaining health variance and that macro-level factors such as housing conditions and employment opportunities emerged as key explanatory factors.
Conclusion: If interventions are to use social capital as a way of addressing health inequalities, these need to look closely at the role of trust for improving health outcomes of deprived populations as well as ensuring access to resources and infrastructure.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1258/1355819042349871 | DOI Listing |
Psychophysiology
January 2025
Beijing Key Lab of Learning and Cognition, School of Psychology, Capital Normal University, Beijing, China.
The naturalistic paradigm and analytical methods present new approaches that are particularly suitable for research concentrating on narrative reading development. We analyzed fMRI data from 44 adults and 42 children engaged in story reading using time-locked inter-subject correlation (ISC), inter-subject representation similarity analysis (IS-RSA), and inter-subject functional correlation (ISFC). The ISC results indicated that for both children and adults, narrative reading recruited not only traditional reading areas but also regions that are sensitive to long-time-scale information, such as the medial prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, which increased involvement from children to adults.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Clin Health Psychol
January 2025
Faculty of Psychology, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China.
Hypomanic personality traits (HPT) are susceptibility markers for psychiatric disorders, particularly bipolar disorder, and are strongly associated with aggressive behaviors. However, the neuropsychological mechanisms underlying this association remain unclear. This study utilized psychometric network analysis and (IS-RSA) to explore the neuropsychological circuits that link HPT to aggression in a large non-clinical population.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMethodsX
June 2025
School of Social Sciences and Languages, Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai, India.
Understanding the relationship between Learned Helplessness (LH) and Psychological Capital (PsyCap) is essential for developing effective interventions for Indigenous adolescents. This study explored the role of PsyCap as a mediator in the link between LH and Psychological Well-Being (PWB). Total of 173 Indigenous adolescents (85 boys and 88 girls) from sixth to eleventh grade at government residential schools.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBrain Behav
January 2025
Journalism and Communications School, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam.
Purpose: The practice of mindfulness is becoming more widespread among employees, with potential benefits for workplace outcomes. However, there is a paucity of research on the mechanisms linking mindfulness to job performance.
Method: This study investigated the mediating functions of emotional intelligence and psychological capital in the relationship between mindfulness and job performance among 263 office employees in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Addiction
January 2025
Harvard Medical School and Center for Addiction Medicine, Recovery Research Institute, at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Background: The definition of 'recovery' has evolved beyond merely control of problem substance use to include other aspects of health and wellbeing (known as 'recovery capital') which are important to prevent relapse to problematic alcohol or other drug (AOD) use. Developing a Recovery Oriented System of Care (ROSC) requires consideration of interventions or services (Recovery Support Services, RSS) designed to build recovery capital which are often delivered alongside established treatment structures. Lived experience and its application to the process of engaging people, changing behaviour and relapse prevention is an essential part of these services.
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