title: Relations of participation in organized activities to smoking and drinking among Japanese youth: contextual effects of structural social capital in high school.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This cross-sectional study examined the effect of school-level structural social capital on smoking and drinking among Japanese youth.
  
  
  METHODS
  Self-administered anonymous questionnaires were distributed to 3248 students at 29 high schools across Okinawa, Japan in 2008. Structural social capital was measured by students' participation in organized activities: student council, extracurricular activities, volunteer activities, community sports clubs, and youth associations. Contextual-level social capital was measured by aggregated school-level individual responses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At the individual level, extracurricular activity participation was negatively associated with smoking and drinking, whereas participation in youth associations was positively associated with smoking and drinking. School-level extracurricular activity participation was negatively associated with smoking among boys, whereas school-level participation in youth associations was positively associated with smoking among boys and girls and drinking among boys.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study suggests that structural social capital measured by participation in organized activities, especially extracurricular activities, might be an important way for youths to attain good health. This study also supports the idea that particular type of activities, such as youth associations, can lead to the so-called "dark side of social capital".
authors.affiliation: School of Health Sciences, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan, minoru@med.u-ryukyu.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Minoru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takakura
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D011998:Recreation; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology*; D066270:Social Capital; D058992:Social Participation; D013177:Sports; D013334:Students; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires