title: The relationship between social capital and self-rated health in a Japanese population: a multilevel analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to use a multilevel analysis to examine whether cognitive and structural dimensions of regional social capital were associated with individual health outcomes after adjusting for compositional factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data from the Japanese General Social Surveys project, a nationwide study with a two-stage stratified random sampling method conducted in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, and 2006, were aggregated and used for the multilevel analysis (n = 11,702). We examined whether both cognitive and structural aspects of social capital (social trust, neighborhood safety, and social participation) were associated with the self-rated health (SRH) of residents from 118 regions after adjustment for compositional factors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Social trust and existing neighborhood safety were negatively associated with poor SRH, whereas the effect of social participation was not significant. Social trust was still negatively associated with poor SRH after adjusting for individual demographic factors and socioeconomic status (p = 0.001). In contrast, neighborhood safety and social participation did not reach significance after adjusting for compositional factors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Based on the results of this study, social trust was associated with health outcomes. Further study is needed to clarify the path linking regional trust in others to individual health outcomes in the Japanese population.
authors: Department of Environmental and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Medical, Pharmaceutical and Health Sciences, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Takaramachi, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan. hibino@staff.kanazawa-u.ac.jp
authors: Yuri
authors: Y
authors: Hibino
authors: Jiro
authors: J
authors: Takaki
authors: Keiki
authors: K
authors: Ogino
authors: Yasuhiro
authors: Y
authors: Kambayashi
authors: Yoshiaki
authors: Y
authors: Hitomi
authors: Aki
authors: A
authors: Shibata
authors: Hiroyuki
authors: H
authors: Nakamura
references: Soc Sci Med. 2000 Sep;51(6):871-85
references: 10972431
references: Health Place. 2007 Jun;13(2):324-34
references: 16584907
references: J Health Soc Behav. 1997 Mar;38(1):21-37
references: 9097506
references: Soc Sci Med. 2007 Jan;64(1):35-49
references: 17029692
references: Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2004 Sep 29;359(1449):1435-46
references: 15347534
references: J Epidemiol Community Health. 2008 Jul;62(7):627-33
references: 18559446
references: Soc Sci Med. 2010 May;70(9):1367-72
references: 20176429
references: Health Place. 2008 Sep;14(3):562-75
references: 17997343
references: Soc Sci Med. 2008 Jun;66(11):2268-80
references: 18314238
references: PLoS One. 2010 Oct 06;5(10):e13214
references: 20949091
references: Soc Sci Med. 2009 Feb;68(4):643-53
references: 19095338
references: Am J Public Health. 1997 Sep;87(9):1491-8
references: 9314802
references: Soc Sci Med. 2003 Mar;56(5):1111-20
references: 12593882
references: Am J Public Health. 1999 Aug;89(8):1187-93
references: 10432904
references: Soc Sci Med. 2001 Jul;53(1):9-19
references: 11380164
references: Int J Epidemiol. 2006 Aug;35(4):989-93
references: 16870679
references: J Epidemiol Community Health. 2005 Aug;59(8):619-27
references: 16020636
references: J Clin Epidemiol. 1997 May;50(5):517-28
references: 9180644
references: Am J Public Health. 1982 Aug;72(8):800-8
references: 7091475
references: Soc Sci Med. 2009 Aug;69(4):489-99
references: 19523728
references: BMJ. 1989 Dec 23-30;299(6715):1547-51
references: 2514896
references: Int J Equity Health. 2006 Apr 05;5:3
references: 16597324
references: Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1999;896:120-30
references: 10681893
references: Am J Public Health. 1990 Apr;80(4):446-52
references: 2316767
references: J Nerv Ment Dis. 1985 Apr;173(4):212-20
references: 3981155
references: Soc Sci Med. 2009 Aug;69(4):500-5
references: 19577353