Social capital and health: civic engagement, community size, and recall of health messages.
OBJECTIVE
We explored the effects of community integration and pluralism on recall of cardiovascular disease health information messages.


METHODS
With 1980-1983 data from the Minnesota Heart Health Program, we examined whether ties to community groups were associated with recall of health messages, and whether this relation was modified by size and degree of differentiation of the community.


RESULTS
A higher level of civic engagement through ties to community groups was associated with better recall of health messages. Ties to community groups independently contributed to better message recall even after control for gender, education, and other variables. The moderating role of community size was non-significant but intriguing.


CONCLUSIONS
Community group membership could increase exposure to health messages, providing a critical pathway for social capital to influence health promotion and, thus, public health outcomes.
Viswanath
Kasisomayajula
K
Department of Society, Human Development, and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Mass, USA. vish_viswanath@dfci.harvard.edu
Randolph Steele
Whitney
W
Finnegan
John R
JR
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003256:Community Participation / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D006293:Health Promotion; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D007255:Information Services; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D015146:Midwestern United States; D008910:Minnesota; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000145:classification; D012933:Social Identification; D040241:Social Marketing; D012944:Social Support