The Relationships Between Social Capital and Self-Rated Health By Gender Groups

Background/Rationale

Generally, sex is considered a significant factor associated with health status and being female is regarded as a risk factor for older adults’ health status. For older population, social capital is critical for their health status because older adults are more likely to rely on social networks and supports from their communities. Thus, social capital is regarded as a protective factor influencing positively health status for older adults and quality of life. Despite the growing interests in relationships between social capital and health outcomes, few studies examined the role of social capital across gender groups and there is little information about how gender interacts with social capital. The purpose of this study was to examine the direct effects of social capital and interaction effect of social participation as a type of social capital on self-rated health.

Methods

This study used the data from the second wave of the National Health and Aging Trends Study, which collected information on a nationally representative sample of Medicare beneficiaries ages 65 and older who resided in their homes and residential care setting including nursing homes. The present study included only those sample persons (n=5,267) in round 2 residing in community and excluded individuals in residential care settings and proxy respondents. For this study, individuals who had no missing information on the study variables were selected and the final sample included 4,670 older adults aged 65 and older.

One single item in the NHATS was used to measure self-rated health. Community participation and community trust were measured to represent structural and cognitive social capital. Chronic condition and functional disability were used as indicators of health conditions. Socio-demographic information included age, gender, race, marital status, education, and Medicaid. To examine direct effects of social capital and moderating effects of social participation, hierarchical regression was conducted by entering sociodemographic variables, health conditions, two indicators of social capital, and interaction terms between gender and social participation. 

Results

Comparison of the betas reveals that chronic conditions (p < .001), difficulties in ADLs (p < .001), and educational attainment (p < .001) were strong predictors to determine self-rated health after controlling for participants’ race, gender, age, and marital status. Results also show that more participation in community (p < .001) and higher levels of community trust (p < .01) were associated with higher levels of self-rated health status. The model reveals a significant interaction between gender and community participation in the hypothesized direction (p < .05), suggesting that female participants are more likely to have the increased effect of community participation on self-rated health status than male participants.

Conclusions and implications

Older adults in the community are able to increase their social resources by participating in community activities and being a community member. In particular, female older adults are more likely to benefit from social participation than male counterparts. The results highlight that social workers and policy makers should pay attention to develop community programs that may have a different influence on health across gender groups.