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Social capital and self-reported general and mental health in nine Former Soviet Union countries

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  • Goryakin, Yevgeniy
  • Suhrcke, Marc
  • Rocco, Lorenzo
  • Roberts, Bayard
  • McKee, Martin

Abstract

Social capital has been proposed as a potentially important contributor to health, yet most of the existing research tends to ignore the challenge of assessing causality in this relationship. We deal with this issue by employing various instrumental variable estimation techniques. We apply the analysis to a set of nine former Soviet countries, using a unique multi-country household survey specifically designed for this region. Our results confirm that there appears to be a causal association running from several dimensions of individual social capital to general and mental health. Individual trust appears to be more strongly related to general health, while social isolation- to mental health. In addition, social support and trust seem to be more important determinants of health than the social capital dimensions that facilitate solidarity and collective action. Our findings are remarkably robust to a range of different specifications, including the use of instrumental variables. Certain interaction effects are also found: for instance, untrusting people who live in communities with higher aggregate level of trust are even less likely to experience good health than untrusting people living in the reference communities.

Suggested Citation

  • Goryakin, Yevgeniy & Suhrcke, Marc & Rocco, Lorenzo & Roberts, Bayard & McKee, Martin, 2014. "Social capital and self-reported general and mental health in nine Former Soviet Union countries," Health Economics, Policy and Law, Cambridge University Press, vol. 9(1), pages 1-24, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:hecopl:v:9:y:2014:i:01:p:1-24_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Goryakin, Yevgeniy & Suhrcke, Marc & Roberts, Bayard & McKee, Martin, 2015. "Mental health inequalities in 9 former Soviet Union countries: Evidence from the previous decade," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 142-151.
    2. Xindong Xue & W. Robert Reed, 2015. "The Relationship Between Social Capital And Health In China," Working Papers in Economics 15/05, University of Canterbury, Department of Economics and Finance.
    3. Damiano Fiorillo & Giuseppe Lubrano Lavadera & Nunzia Nappo, 2020. "Individual Heterogeneity in the Association Between Social Participation and Self-rated Health: A Panel Study on BHPS," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 151(2), pages 645-667, September.
    4. Zhang, Lixia & Li, Shaoting & Ren, Yanjun, 2024. "Does internet use benefit the mental health of older adults? Empirical evidence from the China health and retirement longitudinal study," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 10(3), pages 1-15.
    5. Peterson, Lindsey & Ralston, Margaret, 2019. "Aging well in an aging world: The impact of material conditions, culture, and societal disruptions," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 245-253.
    6. Xue, Xindong & Reed, W. Robert & Menclova, Andrea, 2020. "Social capital and health: a meta-analysis," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    7. Maksym Obrizan, 2018. "Quantifying the Gap in Self-Rated Health for Transition Countries Over 1989–2014," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 60(3), pages 388-409, September.
    8. He Chen & Tianguang Meng, 2015. "Bonding, Bridging, and Linking Social Capital and Self-Rated Health among Chinese Adults: Use of the Anchoring Vignettes Technique," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(11), pages 1-15, November.
    9. Liu, Gordon G. & Xue, Xindong & Yu, Chenxi & Wang, Yafeng, 2016. "How does social capital matter to the health status of older adults? Evidence from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 177-189.
    10. Hollard, Guillaume & Sene, Omar, 2016. "Social capital and access to primary health care in developing countries: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 1-11.
    11. Ketevan Glonti & Vladimir S Gordeev & Yevgeniy Goryakin & Aaron Reeves & David Stuckler & Martin McKee & Bayard Roberts, 2015. "A Systematic Review on Health Resilience to Economic Crises," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(4), pages 1-22, April.

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