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Questions of trust in health research on social capital: What aspects of personal network social capital do they measure?

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  • Carpiano, Richard M.
  • Fitterer, Lisa M.

Abstract

Health research on personal social capital has often utilized measures of respondents' perceived trust of others as either a proxy for one's social capital in the absence of more focused measures or as a subjective component of social capital. Little empirical work has evaluated the validity of such practices. We test the construct validity of two trust measures used commonly in health research on social capital—generalized trust and trust of neighbors—with respect to measures of people's general network-, organization-, family-, friend-, and neighborhood-based social capital and the extent to which these two trust measures are associated with self-rated general health and mental health when social capital measures are included in the same models. Analyses of 2008 Canadian General Social Survey data (response rate 57.3%) indicate that generalized trust and trust of neighbors are both positively—yet modestly—associated with measures of several domains of network-based social capital. Both trust measures are positively associated with general and mental health, but these associations remain robust after adjusting for social capital measures. Our findings suggest that (a) trust is conceptually distinct from social capital, (b) trust measures are inadequate proxies for actual personal social networks, and (c) trust measures may only be capturing psychological aspects relevant to—but not indicative of—social capital. Though links between perceived trust and health deserve study, health research on social capital needs to utilize measures of respondents' actual social networks and their inherent resources.

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  • Carpiano, Richard M. & Fitterer, Lisa M., 2014. "Questions of trust in health research on social capital: What aspects of personal network social capital do they measure?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 225-234.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:116:y:2014:i:c:p:225-234
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.03.017
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    Cited by:

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    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. Lovell, Sarah A. & Gray, Andrew R. & Boucher, Sara E., 2015. "Developing and validating a measure of community capacity: Why volunteers make the best neighbours," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 261-268.
    4. Xue, Xindong & Mo, Erxiao & Reed, W. Robert, 2016. "The relationship between social capital and self-reported health in China," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 10, pages 1-44.
    5. Samba Diop & Simplice A. Asongu, 2023. "Trust Institutions, Perceptions of Economic Performance and the Mitigating role of Political Diversity in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 23/013, African Governance and Development Institute..
    6. Yenny Guzman-Ruiz & Joshua Choe & Gerard F. Anderson & Antonio J. Trujillo, 2025. "Trust in Government and COVID-19 Preventive Behaviors," Journal of Economic Analysis, Anser Press, vol. 4(1), pages 150-169, March.
    7. Zhang, Liangliang & Huang, Shoujun, 2022. "Social capital and regional innovation efficiency: The moderating effect of governance quality," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 343-359.
    8. Joonmo Son & Qiushi Feng, 2019. "In Social Capital We Trust?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 144(1), pages 167-189, July.
    9. Ludovico Alcorta & Jeroen Smits & Haley J. Swedlund & Eelke Jong, 2020. "The ‘Dark Side’ of Social Capital: A Cross-National Examination of the Relationship Between Social Capital and Violence in Africa," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 149(2), pages 445-465, June.
    10. Kawachi, Ichiro & Subramanian, S.V., 2018. "Social epidemiology for the 21st century," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 240-245.
    11. Miething, Alexander & Mewes, Jan & Giordano, Giuseppe N., 2020. "Trust, happiness and mortality: Findings from a prospective US population-based survey," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 252(C).
    12. Ma Yuan & Cao Yue-qun & Wang Hao & Xiang Hong, 2022. "Does Social Capital Promote Health?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 162(2), pages 501-524, July.
    13. Changbin Woo & Hyejin Jung, 2022. "The Impact of Social Enterprises on Individual Wellbeing in South Korea: The Moderating Roles of Social Capital in Multilevel Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 159(2), pages 433-454, January.
    14. 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.
    15. Gang Xu & Yuxin Liao & Yixin Jiang & Peiyao Xu & Lilin Yang & Wenhua Huang & Manru Zhang & Rong Wu, 2022. "The Impacts of Urban Environments on Community Trust of the Low-Income Group: A Case Study for the Pearl River Delta Region," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-14, December.
    16. Shiell, Alan & Hawe, Penelope & Kavanagh, Shane, 2020. "Evidence suggests a need to rethink social capital and social capital interventions," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).
    17. Moore, Spencer & Carpiano, Richard M., 2020. "Measures of personal social capital over time: A path analysis assessing longitudinal associations among cognitive, structural, and network elements of social capital in women and men separately," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).
    18. Zarychta, Alan, 2015. "Community trust and household health: A spatially-based approach with evidence from rural Honduras," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 85-94.
    19. Sato, Yukihiro & Aida, Jun & Tsuboya, Toru & Shirai, Kokoro & Koyama, Shihoko & Matsuyama, Yusuke & Kondo, Katsunori & Osaka, Ken, 2018. "Generalized and particularized trust for health between urban and rural residents in Japan: A cohort study from the JAGES project," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 43-53.

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