Demography and Population Studies Programme, Schools of Public Health and Social Sciences, Faculties of Health Sciences and Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa; World Bank Group, 1818 H St NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA.
French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD), Population and Development Research Centre - (CEPED), Université Paris Descartes, Inserm, 45 Rue des Saints-Pères, 75006, Paris, France; World Bank Group, 1818 H St NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA.
J Adolesc. 2020 Aug;83:22-26. doi: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2020.06.009. Epub 2020 Jul 11.
Despite the prevalence of mental illness among young adults in South Africa, few studies have examined its correlation with social capital using nationally representative data. Sources of social capital are different for youth, which is why understanding the correlation between family and neighbourhood social capital and mental health outcomes is important for designing optimal interventions. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between social capital and youth mental health. We also sought to understand whether family social capital was more protective for the mental health of youth compared to neighbourhood social capital.
Using the National Income Dynamics Survey data for South Africa, we examine these associations among 2307 youth aged 15-24 across the four waves. Multilevel logistic regression was used to examine these associations.
Our findings emphasize the substantial burden of mental illness among youth in South Africa (26% in wave 4). Although results for parental presence were not significant, family social capital measured by household income significantly decreased the odds of incident depression only for those belonging to the third quintile (aOR 0.74, 95% CI 0.54-1.01). High perception of crime in the neighbourhood was associated with significantly higher odds of incident depression (aOR 1.33, 95% CI 1.06-1.67).
Our results confirm the independent effect of neighbourhood characteristics on youth mental health and did not support family social capital as being protective for developing depression. This implies that youth program planners must focus on community context in improving youth developmental outcomes such as mental health.
尽管南非的年轻人中普遍存在精神疾病，但很少有研究使用全国代表性数据来研究其与社会资本的相关性。年轻人获取社会资本的来源不同，因此了解家庭和邻里社会资本与心理健康结果之间的相关性对于设计最佳干预措施非常重要。本研究旨在探讨社会资本与青年心理健康之间的关系。我们还试图了解家庭社会资本是否比邻里社会资本更能保护年轻人的心理健康。
我们使用南非国家收入动态调查数据，在四个波次中检查了 2307 名年龄在 15-24 岁的年轻人之间的这些关联。使用多层次逻辑回归来检查这些关联。
我们的研究结果强调了南非年轻人中精神疾病的巨大负担（第 4 波中为 26%）。尽管父母在场的结果不显著，但通过家庭收入衡量的家庭社会资本仅对属于第三五分位数的人降低了抑郁发作的几率（调整后的比值比 0.74，95%置信区间 0.54-1.01）。对邻里犯罪的高感知与抑郁发作的几率显著增加相关（调整后的比值比 1.33，95%置信区间 1.06-1.67）。
我们的研究结果证实了邻里特征对年轻人心理健康的独立影响，并且不支持家庭社会资本对预防抑郁的保护作用。这意味着青年计划规划者必须关注社区环境，以改善青年发展成果，如心理健康。
