IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i23p15989-d988901.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of Social Capital on Rural Residents’ Medical Service Utilization in China—An Empirical Study Based on CFPS Data

Author

Listed:
  • Hongyun Zhou

    (School of Public Administration, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan 430073, China)

  • Jiqing Hong

    (School of Public Administration, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan 430073, China)

  • Su Yang

    (School of Public Administration, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan 430073, China)

  • Yuxuan Huang

    (School of Environment, Education and Development, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK)

Abstract

Based on CFPS data, the article analyzes the impact of social capital on the utilization of medical services by rural residents in China using binary logit and multinomial logit models. The social capital includes two dimensions: cognitive social capital and structural social capital, and the indicators of medical service utilization are “whether to seek medical treatment when sick” and “choice of medical institution”. This paper concludes that: (1) among the cognitive social capital, special trust and religious beliefs have a significant positive influence on whether rural residents choose to seek medical treatment when they are sick; (2) among the structural social capital, social participation has a significant positive influence on choice of medical institution, and social network has a significant positive influence on the choice of township health center, specialty hospital, and general hospital. According to the empirical results, this paper proposes the following suggestions. The trust mechanism of rural society should be reconstructed, the positive role of religious beliefs should be given full play, the healthy development of social networks should be promoted, and the rural social organizations should be fostered and developed.

Suggested Citation

  • Hongyun Zhou & Jiqing Hong & Su Yang & Yuxuan Huang, 2022. "The Impact of Social Capital on Rural Residents’ Medical Service Utilization in China—An Empirical Study Based on CFPS Data," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-19, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:23:p:15989-:d:988901
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/23/15989/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/23/15989/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Danzon, Patricia M., 2002. "Welfare effects of supplementary insurance: a comment," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(5), pages 923-926, September.
    2. Chaofan Li & Lei Dou & Haipeng Wang & Shanshan Jing & Aitian Yin, 2017. "Horizontal Inequity in Health Care Utilization among the Middle-Aged and Elderly in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-13, July.
    3. Dunlop, Sheryl & Coyte, Peter C. & McIsaac, Warren, 2000. "Socio-economic status and the utilisation of physicians' services: results from the Canadian National Population Health Survey," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 123-133, July.
    4. Kawachi, I. & Kennedy, B.P. & Lochner, K. & Prothrow-Stith, D., 1997. "Social capital, income inequality, and mortality," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 87(9), pages 1491-1498.
    5. Chernichovsky, Dov & Meesook, Oey Astra, 1986. "Utilization of health services in Indonesia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 611-620, January.
    6. Cho, Young Ik & Lee, Shoou-Yih D. & Arozullah, Ahsan M. & Crittenden, Kathleen S., 2008. "Effects of health literacy on health status and health service utilization amongst the elderly," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(8), pages 1809-1816, April.
    7. Crespo-Cebada, Eva & Urbanos-Garrido, Rosa M., 2012. "Equity and equality in the use of GP services for elderly people: The Spanish case," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 104(2), pages 193-199.
    8. Uphoff, Norman & Wijayaratna, C. M., 2000. "Demonstrated Benefits from Social Capital: The Productivity of Farmer Organizations in Gal Oya, Sri Lanka," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(11), pages 1875-1890, November.
    9. Terraneo, Marco, 2015. "Inequities in health care utilization by people aged 50+: Evidence from 12 European countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 154-163.
    10. Duan, Naihua, et al, 1983. "A Comparison of Alternative Models for the Demand for Medical Care," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 1(2), pages 115-126, April.
    11. Rose, Richard, 2000. "How much does social capital add to individual health?A survey study of Russians," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 51(9), pages 1421-1435, November.
    12. Amitabh Chandra & Jonathan Gruber & Robin McKnight, 2010. "Patient Cost Sharing in Low Income Populations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(2), pages 303-308, May.
    13. Dan Li & Shaoguo Zhai & Jian Zhang & Jinjuan Yang & Xiao Wang, 2021. "Assessing Income-Related Inequality on Health Service Utilization among Chinese Rural Migrant Workers with New Co-Operative Medical Scheme: A Multilevel Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(20), pages 1-18, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sirven, Nicolas, 2006. "Endogenous social capital and self-rated health: Cross-sectional data from rural areas of Madagascar," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(6), pages 1489-1502, September.
    2. Helliwell, John F., 2003. "How's life? Combining individual and national variables to explain subjective well-being," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 331-360, March.
    3. Fiorillo, Damiano & Sabatini, Fabio, 2015. "Structural social capital and health in Italy," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 129-142.
    4. Damiano Fiorillo, 2016. "Workers’ health and social relations in Italy," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 43(5), pages 835-862, October.
    5. Karen Witten & Daniel Exeter & Adrian Field, 2003. "The Quality of Urban Environments: Mapping Variation in Access to Community Resources," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 40(1), pages 161-177, January.
    6. Engström, Karin & Mattsson, Fredrik & Järleborg, Anders & Hallqvist, Johan, 2008. "Contextual social capital as a risk factor for poor self-rated health: A multilevel analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(11), pages 2268-2280, June.
    7. Lundborg, Petter, 2005. "Social capital and substance use among Swedish adolescents--an explorative study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(6), pages 1151-1158, September.
    8. B. d'Hombres & L. Rocco & M. Suhrcke & M. McKee, 2010. "Does social capital determine health? Evidence from eight transition countries," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(1), pages 56-74, January.
    9. Ferlander, Sara & Mäkinen, Ilkka Henrik, 2009. "Social capital, gender and self-rated health. Evidence from the Moscow Health Survey 2004," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(9), pages 1323-1332, November.
    10. Boneham, Margaret Anne & Sixsmith, Judith A, 2006. "The voices of older women in a disadvantaged community: Issues of health and social capital," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 269-279, January.
    11. Fiorillo, Damiano & Sabatini, Fabio, 2011. "Quality and quantity: The role of social interactions in self-reported individual health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(11), pages 1644-1652.
    12. Amanda R. Carrico & Heather Barnes Truelove & Nicholas E. Williams, 2019. "Social capital and resilience to drought among smallholding farmers in Sri Lanka," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 155(2), pages 195-213, July.
    13. Fiorillo, Damiano & Sabatini, Fabio, 2011. "Quality and quantity: the role of social interactions in individual health," AICCON Working Papers 84-2011, Associazione Italiana per la Cultura della Cooperazione e del Non Profit.
    14. Bataineh, Hana & Devlin, Rose Anne & Barham, Vicky, 2019. "Social capital and having a regular family doctor: Evidence from longitudinal data," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 421-429.
    15. Veenstra, Gerry & Luginaah, Isaac & Wakefield, Sarah & Birch, Stephen & Eyles, John & Elliott, Susan, 2005. "Who you know, where you live: social capital, neighbourhood and health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(12), pages 2799-2818, June.
    16. Vincens, Natalia & Emmelin, Maria & Stafström, Martin, 2018. "Social capital, income inequality and the social gradient in self-rated health in Latin America: A fixed effects analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 115-122.
    17. Prus, Steven G., 2011. "Comparing social determinants of self-rated health across the United States and Canada," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 50-59, July.
    18. Mocan, H. Naci & Tekin, Erdal & Zax, Jeffrey S., 2004. "The Demand for Medical Care in Urban China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 289-304, February.
    19. Chaofan Li & Lei Dou & Haipeng Wang & Shanshan Jing & Aitian Yin, 2017. "Horizontal Inequity in Health Care Utilization among the Middle-Aged and Elderly in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-13, July.
    20. Shortt, S. E. D., 2004. "Making sense of social capital, health and policy," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 11-22, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:23:p:15989-:d:988901. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.