[Health perception during adolescence between individual and contextual factors: the role of social capital].

OBJECTIVE

to assess the role of neighbourhood social capital, family affluence and risk taking on adolescent self-rated health.

DESIGN

the survey reported here is part of the larger "Health Behaviour in School aged Children" (HBSC) project, an international study carried out in collaboration with the World Health Organization/Europe (WHO). The data were gathered through self-administered questionnaires on forms which had been devised by the international research group. The main areas covered in the questionnaire were health and health behaviour.

SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS

107 high schools were randomly selected from public and private schools in the Veneto region. The questionnaires were filled out by a representative sample of 2,395 (50.3% males) 10th grade students.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

level of family affluence, risk behaviour, social capital, self-rated health.

RESULTS

using binary logistic regression models, it is found that lower levels of family affluence (OR= 2.69 1.80- 4.02), lower levels of neighborhood social capital (OR= 2.97 95% CI 1.87-4.74) and higher levels of risk taking (OR= 2.23 95%CI 1.52-3,27) are independently associated with worse overall perceptions of health. These influences are not found to interact with each other. Moreover, girls perceived their health worst then males (OR= 2.57 95% CI 2.03-3.25).

CONCLUSIONS

risk taking, family affluence and neighborhood social capital are important factors to consider when addressing adolescent health promoting interventions.