Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #112648

Richard Scheffler, PhD and Timothy T. Brown, PhD. Petris Center - School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, 2150 Shattuck Ave, Suite 525, Berkeley, CA 94720-7380, 510-643-4103, tbpetris@uclink.berkeley.edu

Objective: To determine if the association of community social capital on mental health is positive.

Data Sources: Secondary data from the 2001 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) and 2000 County Business Patterns (CBP) survey. We merged the 2001 CHIS with the 2000 CBP using geocodes at the county level yielding 41 communities and approximately 55,000 individual observations.

Study Design: We estimated a mental health production function relating the natural log of the SF-12 mental health summary measure to lagged social capital while controlling for age, sex, race, marital status, educational level, aerobic exercise, smoking status, and medical services use. Community social capital was measured on the county level (or group of counties in the case of very sparsely-populated counties). We estimated our models using generalized least squares and took into account the complex survey design of the CHIS.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

• Articulate the theoretical pathway between community social capital and mental health.
• Describe how the concept of community social capital can be operationalized.
• Assess the possible relative mental health effects of community social capital in their community.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.