Social capital, social cohesion, and health of Syrian refugee working children living in informal tented settlements in Lebanon: A cross-sectional study

• Published in: PLoS medicine 2020-09, Vol.17 (9), p.e1003283-e1003283
• Main Authors: Habib, Rima. R., El-Harakeh, Amena, Ziadee, Micheline, Abi Younes, Elio, El Asmar, Khalil
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Child & adolescent mental health; Child labor; Children; Children & youth; Cross-sectional studies; Earth Sciences; Families & family life; Households; Medicine and Health Sciences; Neighborhoods; People and Places; Refugees; Social capital; Social organization; Social Sciences
• ISSN: 1549-1676; 1549-1277; 1549-1676
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1003283

[...]children are being taken out of schools and pushed into work, which limits their future prospects and subjects them to health risks [7]. The current study addresses this gap in the literature by exploring the relationships between social capital and cohesion and the health and emotional well-being of Syrian refugee children living and working in Lebanon. The main aspects of social capital that are highlighted in the literature include how it is produced through interaction resulting in material and symbolic profits for members of a group [23]; its integration in everyday interactions between people in the form of obligations, expectations, information channels, and norms that encourage some practices and sanction others [24]; and how it “facilitates coordination for mutual benefit” through “features of social organization, such as networks, norms, and trust” [25]. Drukker and colleagues [42] found an association between children’s mental health and the level of informal social control, an indicator of social capital.