LSU Health Sciences Center, School of Public Health, Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States of America.
NO/AIDS Task Force, d.b.a CrescentCare, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2018 Dec 13;13(12):e0208781. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0208781. eCollection 2018.
Despite previous empirical studies which have linked social capital to a number of health outcomes, few studies have investigated sub-group specific social capital among populations at increased risk for HIV infection such as gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBM). Many GBM of color belong to constructed families in which friends refer to each other with kinship terms such as parents and children. No studies have measured social capital provisions within constructed family networks. This study developed a preliminary instrument for assessing social capital among constructed families. The network level social capital scale incorporated the following theoretical domains hypothesized to define social capital derived from network membership: social influence, multiplex ties, heterogeneity, social cohesion, trust, quality of support, and compositional quality. A cross-sectional survey administered an eight-item scale to 131 GBM who belonged to constructed families. The factor structure and confirmatory factor analysis were assessed. Reliability was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha to measure internal consistency. A final single factor solution was obtained which was comprised of six items with high factor loadings. The resulting measures were highly correlated with an alpha of 0.84 and each factor loading was well above 0.3. This study assessed the psychometric properties of a preliminary network level social capital instrument among GBM in constructed families. Future studies may utilize or adopt this scale to measure network-level social capital within other populations.
尽管先前的实证研究已经将社会资本与许多健康结果联系起来,但很少有研究调查过处于艾滋病毒感染风险增加的人群(如男同性恋者、双性恋者和其他与男性发生性关系的男性)中的亚组特定社会资本。许多有色人种的男同性恋者、双性恋者和其他与男性发生性关系的男性属于构建家庭,在这些家庭中,朋友之间用亲属关系的称呼,如父母和孩子。没有研究测量过构建家庭网络中的社会资本供应。本研究开发了一种用于评估构建家庭社会资本的初步工具。网络层面的社会资本量表纳入了以下理论领域,这些领域假设可以从网络成员中定义社会资本:社会影响力、多元关系、异质性、社会凝聚力、信任、支持质量和组成质量。一项横断面调查向 131 名属于构建家庭的男同性恋者、双性恋者和其他与男性发生性关系的男性发放了一个包含八项内容的量表。评估了结构方程模型和验证性因素分析。使用 Cronbach 的 alpha 评估可靠性,以衡量内部一致性。得到了一个最终的单因素解决方案,由六项具有高因子负荷的项目组成。得到的测量结果与 alpha 值为 0.84 高度相关,每个因子负荷都远高于 0.3。本研究评估了构建家庭中男同性恋者、双性恋者和其他与男性发生性关系的男性初步网络层面社会资本工具的心理测量特性。未来的研究可能会利用或采用这个量表来衡量其他人群的网络层面社会资本。