West China Second University Hospital of Sichuan University and Key Laboratory of Birth Defects and Related Diseases of Women and Children (Sichuan University), Ministry of Education, Chengdu, China.
Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, China.
Front Public Health. 2021 Aug 16;9:697068. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.697068. eCollection 2021.
Social capital, the effective functioning of social groups through networks of relationships, can affect mental health and may be affected by COVID-19. We aimed to examine the changes in social capital before and after the COVID-19 lockdown among the Chinese youth. A national convenience sample of 10,540 high school, undergraduate, and graduate students, from the COVID-19 Impact on Lifestyle Change Survey (COINLICS), reported their demographic and social capital information before and after the COVID-19 lockdown. Social capital was retrospectively measured at four levels: individual (ISC), family (FSC), community (CSC), and society (SSC). The changes of social capital were also compared across three educational levels. Overall, ISC and CSC scores generally decreased after lockdown (15.1 to 14.8 and 13.4 to 13.1, respectively), while FSC and SSC scores increased significantly (12.7 to 13.0 and 7.1 to 7.2, respectively). At the individual level, most participants showed a constant perceived social capital; more of the remaining participants showed decreased than increased ISC (30.5% vs. 17.0%) and CSC scores (28.4% vs. 19.1%), while more participants showed increased than decreased FSC (21.7% vs. 9.2%) and SSC scores (10.3% vs. 3.9%). Heterogeneities in social capital changes existed across educational levels. Our findings would provide health professionals and policy-makers solid evidence on the changes in social capital of youths after lockdowns, and therefore help the design of future interventions to rebuild or improve their social capital after epidemics/disasters.
社会资本是指通过关系网络有效运作的社会群体，可以影响心理健康，也可能受到 COVID-19 的影响。我们旨在研究 COVID-19 封锁前后中国青年社会资本的变化。一项来自 COVID-19 对生活方式改变影响调查（COINLICS）的全国便利样本，包括 10540 名高中生、本科生和研究生，报告了他们在 COVID-19 封锁前后的人口统计学和社会资本信息。社会资本在四个层面上进行回顾性测量：个人（ISC）、家庭（FSC）、社区（CSC）和社会（SSC）。还比较了三个教育水平的社会资本变化。
总体而言，ISC 和 CSC 分数在封锁后普遍下降（分别为 15.1 至 14.8 和 13.4 至 13.1），而 FSC 和 SSC 分数显著增加（分别为 12.7 至 13.0 和 7.1 至 7.2）。在个人层面上，大多数参与者的感知社会资本保持不变；更多的剩余参与者的 ISC（30.5%比 17.0%）和 CSC 分数（28.4%比 19.1%）下降，而更多的参与者的 FSC（21.7%比 9.2%）和 SSC 分数（10.3%比 3.9%）增加。社会资本变化在教育水平上存在异质性。
我们的发现将为卫生专业人员和政策制定者提供关于封锁后青年社会资本变化的可靠证据，从而有助于设计未来的干预措施，以在疫情/灾难后重建或改善他们的社会资本。
