title: Aboriginal Australians' experience of social capital and its relevance to health and wellbeing in urban settings.
abstract: Social capital has been linked to physical and mental health. While definitions of social capital vary, all include networks of social relationships and refer to the subsequent benefits and disadvantages accrued to members. Research on social capital for Aboriginal Australians has mainly focused on discrete rural and remote Aboriginal contexts with less known about the features and health and other benefits of social capital in urban settings. This paper presents findings from in-depth interviews with 153 Aboriginal people living in urban areas on their experiences of social capital. Of particular interest was how engagement in bonding and bridging networks influenced health and wellbeing. Employing Bourdieu's relational theory of capital where resources are unequally distributed and reproduced in society we found that patterns of social capital are strongly associated with economic, social and cultural position which in turn reflects the historical experiences of dispossession and disadvantage experienced by Aboriginal Australians. Social capital was also found to both reinforce and influence Aboriginal cultural identity, and had both positive and negative impacts on health and wellbeing.
authors.affiliation: Southgate Institute for Health, Society and Equity, Flinders University, Level 2 Health Sciences Building, North Ridge Precinct, Registry Road, Bedford Road, South Australia 5042, Australia. Electronic address: Kathryn.browneyung@flinders.edu.au.
authors.forename: Kathryn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Browne-Yung
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ziersch
authors.forename: Fran
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Baum
authors.forename: Gilbert
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gallaher
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009769:Object Attachment; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011788:Quality of Life; D012944:Social Support; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014504:Urban Health / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: Aboriginal Australians; Bourdieu; Health; Social capital; Urban settings