title: A multilevel analysis of social capital and self-rated health: evidence from China.
abstract: We investigate relationship between social capital and self-rated health (SRH) in urban and rural China. Using a nationally representative data collected in 2005, we performed multilevel analyses. The social capital indicators include bonding trust, bridging trust, social participation and Chinese Communist Party membership. Results showed that only trust was beneficial for SRH in China. Bonding trust mainly promoted SRH at individual level and bridging trust mainly at county level. Moreover, the individual-level bridging trust was only positively associated with SRH of urban residents, which mirrored the urban-rural dual structure in China. We also found a cross-level interaction effect of bonding trust in urban area. In a county with high level of bonding trust, high-bonding-trust individuals obtained more health benefit than others; in a county with low level of bonding trust, the situation was the opposite.
authors: Department of Political Science, School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. Electronic address: maxmeng@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn.
authors: Tianguang
authors: T
authors: Meng
authors: School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China. Electronic address: chenhe.liz@gmail.com.
authors: He
authors: H
authors: Chen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D066270:Social Capital; D058992:Social Participation; D035502:Trust; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: China; Multilevel analysis; Self-rated health; Social capital; Urban–rural difference