The social gradient in health: Social capital, human capital and the transition to adulthood.

摘要

Objective. Numerous empirical studies of the socioeconomic status (SES) and health association over the past several decades have failed to generate a consistent causal finding for this relationship. Few studies have examined this phenomenon during the transition from adolescence to young adulthood. This study examines the important role of social capital on the social inequality in health during young adulthood. In addition, this study examines the role of social capital in promoting the development of human capital, which may influence the adult social status of the study subjects and, subsequently, their health status over their adult lives. Methods . The Youth Development Study of 1,000 St. Paul, Minnesota public school freshman in 1988 was used for this study. Four waves of data were used, with a final sample size of 644 subjects responding in all four waves of data collection. Latent measures of social capital in the freshman year of high school, the senior year, and four years after high school, were estimated from three latent social capital domains: family social capital, community social capital, and work social capital. Self-reported health status measured in two time periods, when subjects were 21--22 years of age and 24--25 years of age, was regressed on social capital, controlling for parental SES, gender, race, educational attainment, work complexity, earnings, health insurance status, and health behaviors. Results. Social capital has a direct positive association with self-reported health status, contemporaneously and temporally. Social capital provides a source of important tangible and intangible support for youth as they make the transition to adulthood, buffering against stress and promoting good health behaviors. In addition, social capital has a positive effect on the educational attainment of youth and young adults. By promoting human capital development, social capital may play an important indirect role in the social stratification of health. If youth from high SES families have access to higher levels of social capital, and to social capital of better quality, more years of education will be attained and better health status realized over the life course.