Social capital and health outcomes among older adults in India: a multilevel analysis

Abstract

Purpose The social capital theory is increasingly being looked at as a valuable paradigm to understand if community socioeconomic factors influence health behaviours and outcomes. This requires an understanding of the forms in which social capital manifests and the levels at which it operates. Design/methodology/approach Thus, the purpose of this paper is to study if social capital is associated with health outcomes among older adults in India and providing an estimate of the extent to which the neighbourhood differences in health outcomes among the older adults can be attributed to social capital. Findings The authors find several forms of social capital to be associated with health outcomes among older adults. The results show that community-level social capital variables collectively explain 12.81% unexplained neighbourhood variation in self-rated health, 2.5% variation in psychological well-being and 11.32% variation in the ability to perform activities of daily living, respectively. Originality/value The findings highlight the role social capital plays in serving as a coping mechanism for older adults to survive deteriorating health and social exclusion and call for conscious investment in building social capital.