Cathie Marsh Institute for Social Research, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK; Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung, WZB Berlin Social Science Center, Reichpietschufer 50, D-10785 Berlin, Germany.
Soc Sci Med. 2019 Sep;237:112442. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112442. Epub 2019 Jul 23.
Studies identify the existence of inequalities in adolescent subjective well-being (SWB) across levels of community socio-economic disadvantage. One posited explanation is that community disadvantage harms SWB through undermining positive social relations among residents (often termed social capital). However, social relations can be both positive and negative; for example, social interactions between residents can be friendly or unfriendly, or involve being helped or harmed. Little work has explored negative social relations in communities and their impact on SWB. This study therefore examines the role that local negative social relations may play, alongside positive relations, in understanding inequalities in SWB across communities. Data are taken from a nationally representative survey of 16-17-year olds in England in 2015. Applying multilevel models, findings demonstrate that adolescents living in more disadvantaged communities exhibit lower SWB. In line with current theories, part of this association can be accounted for by weaker positive social relations: the results show that while positive local interactions are important for youth SWB (primarily via higher neighbour trust), young people in more disadvantaged communities report fewer local positive social interactions. However, the models also demonstrate that part of the negative association between community disadvantage and SWB is also accounted for by stronger negative social relations: the results show that negative local interactions are harmful for youth SWB (both directly, and indirectly via lower neighbour-trust), and young people in disadvantaged communities report more frequent negative local social interactions. Importantly, the negative indirect-effect of community disadvantage via increasing negative social interactions is almost twice as strong as the negative indirect-effect of disadvantage via reducing positive interactions. Taken together, community disadvantage appears to harm SWB not only by reducing positive relations but also increasing negative relations. These form dual, independent, social relations pathways through which community disadvantage affects SWB.
研究发现，社区社会经济劣势程度不同，青少年主观幸福感（SWB）存在不平等现象。一种假设的解释是，社区劣势通过破坏居民之间的积极社会关系（通常称为社会资本）来损害 SWB。然而，社会关系既可以是积极的，也可以是消极的；例如，居民之间的社会互动可以是友好的，也可以是不友好的，或者涉及到帮助或伤害。很少有工作探讨社区中的负面社会关系及其对 SWB 的影响。因此，本研究考察了当地负面社会关系在理解社区之间 SWB 不平等方面可能发挥的作用，以及积极关系。数据来自于 2015 年在英格兰对 16-17 岁青少年进行的一项全国代表性调查。应用多层次模型，研究结果表明，生活在劣势社区的青少年表现出较低的 SWB。与当前的理论一致，这种关联的一部分可以通过较弱的积极社会关系来解释：结果表明，尽管积极的地方互动对青少年 SWB 很重要（主要通过更高的邻居信任），但处于劣势社区的年轻人报告的地方积极社会互动较少。然而，这些模型还表明，社区劣势与 SWB 之间的部分负面关联也可以通过更强的负面社会关系来解释：结果表明，负面的地方互动对青少年 SWB 有害（直接有害，通过降低邻居信任间接有害），处于劣势社区的年轻人报告的负面地方社会互动更为频繁。重要的是，社区劣势通过增加负面社会互动对 SWB 的负面影响间接效应几乎是通过减少积极互动对劣势间接效应的两倍。综上所述，社区劣势不仅通过减少积极关系，而且通过增加负面关系来损害 SWB。这些构成了社区劣势影响 SWB 的双重、独立的社会关系途径。
