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Research Findings from Duke University Update Understanding of Social Science

2012 FEB 10 -- New research, "Religious social capital: its measurement and utility in the study of the social determinants of health," is the subject of a report. "As a social determinant of health, religiosity remains not well understood, despite the prevalence of religious activity and prominence of religious institutions in most societies. This paper introduces a working measure of Religious Social Capital and presents preliminary associations with neighborhood social capital and urban stressors," scientists writing in the journal Social Science & Medicine report.

"Religious social capital is defined as the social resources available to individuals and groups through their social connections with a religious community. Domains covered include group membership, social integration, values/norms, bonding/bridging trust as well as social support. Cross-sectional data come from a convenience sample of 104 community dwelling adults residing in a single urban neighborhood in a large US city, who also provided information on neighborhood social capital, and experiences of urban stressors. Results suggest that religious social capital is a valid construct that can be reliably measured. All indicators of religious social capital were higher among those who frequently attended religious services, with the exception of bridging trust (trust of people from different religious groups). A weak, inverse, association was also observed between religious and neighborhood social capital levels. Levels of religious social capital were correlated with higher levels of reported urban stressors, while neighborhood social capital was correlated with lower urban stressor levels. A significant percent of the sample was unaffiliated with a religious tradition and these individuals were more likely to be male, young and more highly educated," wrote J. Maselko and colleagues, Duke University.

The researchers concluded: "Social capital is a promising construct to help elucidate the influence of religion on population health."

Maselko and colleagues published their study in Social Science & Medicine (Religious social capital: its measurement and utility in the study of the social determinants of health. Social Science & Medicine, 2011;73(5):759-67).

Additional information can be obtained by contacting J. Maselko, Dept. of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University, 235 Trent Hall, Box 90519, Durham, NC, United States.

Keywords: City:Durham, State:North Carolina, Country:United States, Region:North and Central America.

This article was prepared by Health & Medicine Week editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2012, Health & Medicine Week via NewsRx.com.