Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 11 A Datun Road, Beijing, 100101, P.R. China.
Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
Int J Equity Health. 2021 Sep 15;20(1):207. doi: 10.1186/s12939-021-01542-y.
The importance of social and economic capital as predictors of health is widely documented, yet the complexity of interactions between them and effects on older people's health is still unclear. Combining the material and psychosocial explanations of health, this study explores the potential interactions between social and economic capital in influencing older adults' health in urban and rural China.
Using data from the China Family Panel Survey, physical and mental health in 2018 were regressed on social and economic capital indicators in 2016, controlling for sociodemographic characteristics of 3535 respondents aged 65 and older. Rothman's synergy index was calculated to investigate potential interaction effects.
Economic hardships were significantly related to both self-reported health and mental health. Neighborhood cohesion and social participation were significantly associated with mental health for all, bonding trust was significantly associated with mental health for urban older people. We found no significant associations between social capital components and self-reported health. There was an interaction effect between low neighborhood cohesion and economic hardships, and between low social participation and economic hardships, creating an increased burden of poor mental health. The interaction effect between low bonding trust and economic hardships on mental health was apparent only among urban older people.
Geographical settings are important factors in the complexity between social and economic capital in affecting older health. Intervention efforts directed towards reducing simultaneously multiple dimensions of deprivation, such as poverty, social exclusion, social isolation, could be helpful in improving older people's health. In materially deprived places, policies to promote health equity by improving social capital but without eliminating poverty may be less effective.
社会和经济资本作为健康预测因素的重要性已被广泛记录，但它们之间的相互作用以及对老年人健康的影响仍不清楚。本研究结合健康的物质和心理社会解释，探讨了社会和经济资本在影响中国城乡老年人健康方面的潜在相互作用。
使用中国家庭追踪调查的数据，将 2018 年的身体和心理健康状况回归到 2016 年的社会和经济资本指标上，控制了 3535 名 65 岁及以上受访者的社会人口特征。计算了罗思曼协同指数，以调查潜在的交互作用。
经济困难与自我报告的健康和心理健康显著相关。邻里凝聚力和社会参与与所有人的心理健康显著相关，关系信任与城市老年人的心理健康显著相关。我们没有发现社会资本组成部分与自我报告的健康之间存在显著关联。低邻里凝聚力和经济困难之间以及低社会参与和经济困难之间存在交互作用，导致心理健康状况不佳的负担增加。低关系信任和经济困难对心理健康的交互作用仅在城市老年人中明显。
地理环境是影响老年人健康的社会和经济资本之间复杂性的重要因素。旨在同时减少贫困、社会排斥、社会孤立等多个维度剥夺的干预措施可能有助于改善老年人的健康。在物质贫困的地方，通过改善社会资本而不消除贫困来促进健康公平的政策可能效果较差。
