The mediating role of social capital in the relationship between socioeconomic status and adolescent wellbeing: evidence from Ghana.

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  • Author(s): Addae EA;Addae EA
  • Source:
    BMC public health [BMC Public Health] 2020 Jan 07; Vol. 20 (1), pp. 20. Date of Electronic Publication: 2020 Jan 07.
  • Publication Type:
    Journal Article
  • Language:
    English
  • Additional Information
    • Source:
      Publisher: BioMed Central Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 100968562 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1471-2458 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 14712458 NLM ISO Abbreviation: BMC Public Health Subsets: MEDLINE
    • Publication Information:
      Original Publication: London : BioMed Central, [2001-
    • Subject Terms:
      Social Capital* ; Social Class*; Adolescent Health/*statistics & numerical data ; Child Welfare/*statistics & numerical data ; Students/*psychology ; Students/*statistics & numerical data; Adolescent ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Ghana ; Humans ; Male
    • Abstract:
      Background: Social capital is generally portrayed to be protective of adolescents' health and wellbeing against the effects of socioeconomic inequalities. However, few empirical evidence exist on this protective role of social capital regarding adolescents' wellbeing in the low-and middle-income country (LMIC) context. This study examines the potential for social capital to be a protective health resource by investigating whether social capital can mediate the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and wellbeing of Ghanaian adolescents. It also examines how SES and social capital relate to different dimensions of adolescents' wellbeing in different social contexts.
      Methods: The study employed a cross-sectional survey involving a randomly selected 2068 adolescents (13-18 years) from 15 schools (8 Senior and 7 Junior High Schools) in Ghana. Relationships were assessed using multivariate regression models.
      Results: Three measures of familial social capital (family sense of belonging, family autonomy support, and family control) were found to be important protective factors of both adolescents' life satisfaction and happiness against the effects of socioeconomic status. One measure of school social capital (school sense of belonging) was found to augment adolescents' wellbeing but played no mediating role in the SES-wellbeing relationship. A proportion of about 69 and 42% of the total effect of SES on happiness and life satisfaction were mediated by social capital respectively. Moreover, there were variations in how SES and social capital related to the different dimensions of adolescents' wellbeing.
      Conclusion: Social capital is a significant mechanism through which SES impacts the wellbeing of adolescents. Social capital is a potential protective health resource that can be utilised by public health policy to promote adolescents' wellbeing irrespective of socioeconomic inequalities. Moreover, the role of the family (home) in promoting adolescents' wellbeing is superior to that of school which prompts targeted policy interventions. For a holistic assessment of adolescents' subjective wellbeing, both life evaluations (life satisfaction) and positive emotions (happiness) should be assessed concomitantly.
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    • Contributed Indexing:
      Keywords: Autonomy and control; Ghana; Happiness; Life satisfaction; Sense of belonging; Social capital; Social context; Socioeconomic status; Wellbeing
    • Publication Date:
      Date Created: 20200109 Date Completed: 20200323 Latest Revision: 20200323
    • Publication Date:
      20240105
    • Accession Number:
      PMC6947894
    • Accession Number:
      10.1186/s12889-019-8142-x
    • Accession Number:
      31910835