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Social institutions: A novel approach to measuring social capital in communities
Methods: Using a factor analytic approach, 68 social institution types were reduced into 24 distinct factors accounting for 51 percent of the variable. Eigenvalues and the scree plot were evaluated and data were reduced and rotated using varimax rotation to seven factors accounting for 23.78 percent of the variance. Factors were placed in an additive model to compute scores for quantity and diversity of social institutions at the census block group level. Spearman’s rho correlations were computed to examine quantity and diversity of social institutions and demographic characteristics.
Results: We found that greater social institutional diversity was found in communities with greater populations that have been found to be at risk for increased adverse impacts following disasters including females (ρ0.118, p<0.000), households with children (ρ0.064, p<0.000), and households living below the poverty line (ρ0.129, p<0.000).
Conclusion: Diversity of social institutions may be an important indicator of social capital in communities and may provide an opportunity for building community resilience.
Learning Areas:
EpidemiologyPublic health or related public policy
Public health or related research
Learning Objectives:
Identify several different types of social institutions.
Describe how social institutional diversity differs based on demographic characteristics.
Keyword(s): Disasters, Epidemiology
Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I developed the social institutions measure included in this analysis.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.