title: Social capital and vulnerable urban youth in five global cities.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Social capital is essential for the successful development of young people. The current study examines direct measures of social capital in young people in five urban global contexts.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Well-Being of Adolescents in Vulnerable Environments is a global study of young people aged 15-19 years living in disadvantaged, urban settings. Respondent-driven sampling was used to recruit approximately 500 participants from each site. The sample included 2,339 young people (mean age 16.7 years; 47.5% female). We examined the associations between social capital in four domains-family, school, peers, and neighborhood and demographic characteristics-using gender-stratified ordinary least-squares regression. We also examined associations between self-reported health and the four social capital domains, which was minimal.
  
  
  RESULTS
  School enrollment was positively associated with social capital for young women in Baltimore, Delhi, and Shanghai; the association was less consistent for young men. The same pattern is true for perceived wealth. Unstable housing was associated with low familial social capital in all groups except young women in Shanghai and young men in Ibadan and Johannesburg. Being raised outside a two-parent family has a widespread, negative association with social capital. Self-reported health had a mainly positive association with social capital with the most consistent association being neighborhood social capital.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Different types of social capital interact with social contexts and gender differently. Strategies that aim to build social capital as part of risk reduction and positive youth development programming need to recognize that social capital enhancement may work differently for different groups and in different settings.
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland. Electronic address: bmarshal@jhsph.edu.
authors.forename: Beth Dail
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Marshall
authors.affiliation: Urban Institute, Washington, D.C.
authors.forename: Nan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Astone
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland.
authors.forename: Robert W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Blum
authors.affiliation: Population Council, New Dehli, India.
authors.forename: Shireen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jejeebhoy
authors.affiliation: Wits Reproductive Health & HIV Institute, School of Clinical Medicine, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
authors.forename: Sinead
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Delany-Moretlwe
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland.
authors.forename: Heena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Brahmbhatt
authors.affiliation: Institute of Child Health, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan/University College Hospital Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Adesola
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Olumide
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Institute of Planned Parenthood Research, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Ziliang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016497:Adolescent Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D014943:Global Health; D006798:Housing / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009549:Nigeria / Q000453:epidemiology; D010379:Peer Group; D010465:Perception; D011204:Poverty Areas; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012494:Sampling Studies; D066270:Social Capital; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014504:Urban Health / Q000191:economics; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Adolescent; Family support; Neighborhood cohesion; Peer support; School connectedness; Social determinants