Maternal social capital and child health in Vietnam
- 1London South Bank University, UK
- 2London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK
- 3Vietnamese Research and Training Centre for Community Development (RTCCD)
- Correspondence to: Professor T Harpham London South Bank University, 103 Borough Road, London SE1 OAA, UK; T.Harpham{at}lsbu.ac.uk
- Accepted 21 March 2006
Abstract
Study objective: To explore the association between maternal social capital and child physical and mental health in Vietnam.
Design: Cross sectional survey. Measures of maternal structural social capital comprised group membership, citizenship, and social support. Measures of cognitive social capital comprised trust, social harmony, sense of fairness, and belonging. Child health was measured by anthropometrics and mothers’ reports of acute and chronic physical health problems and child mental health.
Participants: 2907 mothers and their 1 year old or 8 year old children from five provinces in Vietnam.
Main results: The study found low levels of group membership and citizenship and high levels of cognitive social capital and support, and generally higher levels of social capital among the mothers of 8 year old compared with 1 year old children. All but one association was in the hypothesised direction (that is, higher levels of social capital associated with reduced risk of child health problems). There were more statistically significant relations between maternal social capital and the health of 1 year olds compared with 8 year old children, and between measures of social support and cognitive social capital and child health, than with group membership and involvement in citizenship activities.
Conclusion: This study is the first to explore the association between multiple dimensions of social capital and a range of different child health outcomes in the developing world. These results now need to be tested using longitudinal data.
Footnotes
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Funding Agency: UK Department of International Development.
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Competing interests: none.
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Ethics: ethical approval was granted by the Vietnamese Union of Scientific and Technological Associations, London South Bank University, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Reading University, UK. This research conforms to the principles embodied in the Declaration of Helsinki.
