TY - JOUR
T1 - Social capital and vulnerable urban youth in five global cities
AU - Marshall, Beth Dail
AU - Astone, Nan
AU - Blum, Robert W.
AU - Jejeebhoy, Shireen
AU - Delany-Moretlwe, Sinead
AU - Brahmbhatt, Heena
AU - Olumide, Adesola
AU - Wang, Ziliang
N1 - Funding Information:
Disclaimer : Publication of this article was supported by the Young Health Programme, a partnership between AstraZeneca, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Plan International. The opinions or views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position of the funders.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine.
PY - 2014/12/1
Y1 - 2014/12/1
N2 - Purpose Social capital is essential for the successful development of young people. The current study examines direct measures of social capital in young people in five urban global contexts.Methods The Well-Being of Adolescents in Vulnerable Environments is a global study of young people aged 15-19 years living in disadvantaged, urban settings. Respondent-driven sampling was used to recruit approximately 500 participants from each site. The sample included 2,339 young people (mean age 16.7 years; 47.5% female). We examined the associations between social capital in four domains - family, school, peers, and neighborhood and demographic characteristics - using gender-stratified ordinary least-squares regression. We also examined associations between self-reported health and the four social capital domains, which was minimal.Results School enrollment was positively associated with social capital for young women in Baltimore, Delhi, and Shanghai; the association was less consistent for young men. The same pattern is true for perceived wealth. Unstable housing was associated with low familial social capital in all groups except young women in Shanghai and young men in Ibadan and Johannesburg. Being raised outside a two-parent family has a widespread, negative association with social capital. Self-reported health had a mainly positive association with social capital with the most consistent association being neighborhood social capital.Conclusions Different types of social capital interact with social contexts and gender differently. Strategies that aim to build social capital as part of risk reduction and positive youth development programming need to recognize that social capital enhancement may work differently for different groups and in different settings.
AB - Purpose Social capital is essential for the successful development of young people. The current study examines direct measures of social capital in young people in five urban global contexts.Methods The Well-Being of Adolescents in Vulnerable Environments is a global study of young people aged 15-19 years living in disadvantaged, urban settings. Respondent-driven sampling was used to recruit approximately 500 participants from each site. The sample included 2,339 young people (mean age 16.7 years; 47.5% female). We examined the associations between social capital in four domains - family, school, peers, and neighborhood and demographic characteristics - using gender-stratified ordinary least-squares regression. We also examined associations between self-reported health and the four social capital domains, which was minimal.Results School enrollment was positively associated with social capital for young women in Baltimore, Delhi, and Shanghai; the association was less consistent for young men. The same pattern is true for perceived wealth. Unstable housing was associated with low familial social capital in all groups except young women in Shanghai and young men in Ibadan and Johannesburg. Being raised outside a two-parent family has a widespread, negative association with social capital. Self-reported health had a mainly positive association with social capital with the most consistent association being neighborhood social capital.Conclusions Different types of social capital interact with social contexts and gender differently. Strategies that aim to build social capital as part of risk reduction and positive youth development programming need to recognize that social capital enhancement may work differently for different groups and in different settings.
KW - Adolescent
KW - Family support
KW - Neighborhood cohesion
KW - Peer support
KW - School connectedness
KW - Social determinants
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2014.08.021
DO - 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2014.08.021
M3 - Article
C2 - 25453999
AN - SCOPUS:84918808043
VL - 55
SP - S21-S30
JO - Journal of Adolescent Health
JF - Journal of Adolescent Health
SN - 1054-139X
IS - 6
ER -