142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Annual Meeting Recordings are now available for purchase

310451
Social institutions: A novel approach to measuring social capital in communities

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Lauren Clay, MPH , Disaster Research Center, University of Delaware, Newark, DE
Mia Papas, PhD , Department of Behavioral Health and Nutrtition, University of Delaware, Newark, DE
James Kendra, PhD, CEM , Disaster Research Center, University of Delaware, Newark, DE
Objective: Social capital plays an important role in post-disaster recovery outcomes. The multidimensionality of social capital results in a complexity of measurement.  Social institutions provide a unique opportunity to quantify social capital as they allow community members to interact with each other to build trust and act collectively. Census tract level business pattern data were used to construct a measure of community social institutions called the Social Institutions Index (SII) for Louisiana and Mississippi based on 2013 data.

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:

Epidemiology
Public 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

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

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.