Association between social capital and self-perception of health in Brazilian adults.
OBJECTIVE To investigate the association between social capital and social capital and self-perception of health based on examining the influence of health-related behaviors as possible mediators of this relationship. METHODS A cross-sectional study was used with 1,081 subjects, which is representative of the population of individuals aged 40 years or more in a medium-sized city in Southern Brazil. The subjects who perceived their health as fine, bad or very bad were considered to have a negative self-perception of their health. The social capital indicators were: number of friends, people from whom they could borrow money from when needed; the extent of trust in community members; whether or not members of the community helped each other; community safety; and extent of participation in community activities. The behaviors were: physical activity during leisure time, fruits and vegetable consumption, tobacco use and alcohol abuse. The odds ratios (OR) and confidence intervals (CI) 95% were calculated by binary logistic regression. The significance of mediation was verified using the Sobel test. RESULTS Following adjustment for demographic and clinical variables, subjects with fewer friends (OR = 1.39, 95%CI 1.08;1.80), those who perceived less frequently help from people in the neighborhood (OR = 1.30, 95%CI 1.01;1.68), who saw the violent neighborhood (OR = 1.33, 95%CI 1.01;1.74) and who had not participated in any community activity (OR = 1.39, 95%CI 1.07;1.80) had more negative self-perception of their health. Physical activity during leisure time was a significant mediator in the relationship between all social capital indicators (except for the borrowed money variable) and self-perceived health. Fruit and vegetable consumption was a significant mediator of the relationship between the extent of participation in community activities and self-perceived health. Tobacco use and alcohol abuse did not seem to have a mediating role in any relationship. CONCLUSIONS Lifestyle seems to only partially explain the relationship between social capital and self-perceived health. Among the investigated behaviors, physical activity during leisure time is what seems to have the most important role as a mediator of this relationship.
Departamento de Educação Física, Centro de Educação Física e Esporte, Universidade Estadual de Londrina, Londrina, PR, Brasil.
Mathias Roberto
MR
Loch
Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Estadual de Londrina, Londrina, PR, Brasil.
Regina Kazue Tanno
RK
de Souza
Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Estadual de Londrina, Londrina, PR, Brasil.
Arthur Eumann
AE
Mesas
Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Estadual de Londrina, Londrina, PR, Brasil.
Alberto Durán
AD
González
Departamento de Medicina Preventiva y Salud Pública, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, España.
Fernando
F
Rodriguez-Artalejo
D000328:Adult; D001938:Brazil; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D012649:Self Concept; D066270:Social Capital; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors