Social Capital and Self-Rated Health: A Cross-Sectional Study among Rural Japanese Working Residents

Elijah Deku-Mwin Kuurdor (), Hirokazu Tanaka, Takumi Kitajima, Jennifer Xolali Amexo and Shigeru Sokejima ()
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Elijah Deku-Mwin Kuurdor: Department of Public Health and Occupational Medicine, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-174 Edobashi, Tsu-shi 514-8507, Japan
Hirokazu Tanaka: Division of Surveillance and Policy Evaluation, Institute for Cancer Control, National Cancer Center, 5-1-1, Tsukuji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0045, Japan
Takumi Kitajima: Department of Public Health and Occupational Medicine, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-174 Edobashi, Tsu-shi 514-8507, Japan
Jennifer Xolali Amexo: Department of Public Health and Occupational Medicine, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-174 Edobashi, Tsu-shi 514-8507, Japan
Shigeru Sokejima: Department of Public Health and Occupational Medicine, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-174 Edobashi, Tsu-shi 514-8507, Japan

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 21, 1-14

Abstract: Social capital is positively associated with self-rated health; however, this association among workers is still unclear. Thus, this study examined the relationship between social capital and self-rated health with special attention to the employment type. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 6160 workers aged 20–64 years from two towns in Mie Prefecture in January–March 2013. Social capital was assessed using five items in 4816 income-earning workers. The social capital scores were summed and then divided into three groups. The self-rated health responses were dichotomised into ‘poor’ and ‘good’. The association was examined using a stepwise binomial logistic regression stratified by employment type and adjusted for potential confounders. Regular employees with low social capital had a higher significant odds ratio of poor self-rated health than medium (OR 0.58 95% CIs 0.39–0.87) and high (OR 0.39; 95% CIs 0.26–0.59) social capital levels after controlling for all potential confounders. Similar patterns were observed for non-regular employees with medium and high social capital. There was a significant relationship between some indicators of social capital and poor self-rated health among self-employees. These results highlight that social capital acts as an unequal health resource for different types of workers.

Keywords: social capital; self-rated health; employment types; workers; Japan (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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