Does Social Participation Predict Better Health? A Longitudinal Study in Rural Malawi

Research on the relationship between social capital and individual health often suffers from important limitations. Most research relies on cross-sectional data, which precludes identifying whether participation predicts health and/or vice versa. Some important conceptualizations of social capital,...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of health and social behavior 2015-12, Vol.56 (4), p.552-573
Main Authors: Myroniuk, Tyler W., Anglewicz, Philip
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Age groups
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Community participation
Cross-Sectional Studies
Demography
Female
Health Status
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Malawi
Male
Men
Mental Health
Middle Aged
Models, Theoretical
Physical health
Rural areas
Sex Factors
Social Capital
Social networking
Social Participation
Social Relationships in International Settings
Social Support
Socioeconomic Factors
Womens health
Young Adult
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Research on the relationship between social capital and individual health often suffers from important limitations. Most research relies on cross-sectional data, which precludes identifying whether participation predicts health and/or vice versa. Some important conceptualizations of social capital, like social participation, have seldom been examined. Little is known about participation and health in sub-Saharan Africa. Furthermore, both physical and mental health have seldom been tested together, and variation by age has rarely been examined. We use longitudinal survey data for 2,328 men and women from the Malawi Longitudinal Study of Families and Health, containing (1) several measures of social participation, (2) measures of physical and mental health, and (3) an age range of 15 to 80+ years. Our results differ by gender and age and for mental and physical health. We find that social participation is associated with better physical health but can predict worse mental health for Malawians.
ISSN:0022-1465
2150-6000
DOI:10.1177/0022146515613416