Social Capital Promotes a Healthier Diet among Young Adults by Reducing Psychological Distress

Social capital and healthy eating among two ethnic minority groups in Yunnan Province, Southwest China: the mediating role of social support and nutrition knowledge

Background

Although social capital has been linked to dietary intake particularly in disadvantaged populations, little is known about the mechanisms. This study aimed to investigate whether social support (SS) and nutrition knowledge (NK) mediate the association between social capital and healthy eating habits.

Methods

A probability sample of two ethnic minority groups in Yunnan Province, Southwest China were included (n = 1,033, mean age 47.5 ± 14.7 years). Bonding and bridging social capital (BOC and BRC) were assessed with the Personal Social Capital Scale (PSCS-16). Dietary data were evaluated with the Chinese Healthy Eating Index (CHEI), a measure of diet quality which reflects adherence to the Chinese Dietary Guidelines. NK and SS were measured with a validated questionnaire and scale, respectively. Structural Equation Modeling was used to calculate the direct, indirect and total effects of social capital on CHEI scores.

Results

The mean score of CHEI was 57.4 ± 9.8, which was significantly lower in men and older people. Low adherence to dietary guidelines were to observed in the consumption of dairy, beans, nuts, animal-source food vegetables and fruits. BOC and BRC were positively associated with CHEI score (β = 0.37 and 0.38, all p < 0.05). Social support and nutrition knowledge mediated 45.9 and 39.5% of the total effect of social capital on CHEI score, respectively.

Conclusion

Social capital appears to enhance adherence to dietary guidelines by improving nutrition knowledge and social support. Nutrition promotion programs therefore should consider incorporating strategies that foster social capital development, particularly in disadvantaged populations.

Factors Impacting Chinese Older Adults' Intention to Prevent COVID-19 in the Post-COVID-19 Pandemic Era: Survey Study

BACKGROUND

Understanding the factors influencing individuals' health decisions is a dynamic research question. Particularly, after China announced the deregulation of the COVID-19 epidemic, health risks escalated rapidly. The convergence of "no longer controlled" viruses and the infodemic has created a distinctive social period during which multiple factors may have influenced people's decision-making. Among these factors, the precautionary intentions of older individuals, as a susceptible health group, deserve special attention.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to examine the intention of older adults to engage in preventive behaviors and the influencing factors, including social, media, and individual factors, within the context of the postepidemic era. Drawing upon the structural influence model of communication, this study tests the potential mediating roles of 3 different types of media exposure between cognitive and structural social capital and protective behavior intention, as well as the moderating role of negative emotions between social capital and media exposure.

METHODS

In this study, a web survey was used to collect self-reported quantitative data on social capital, media exposure, negative emotions, and the intention to prevent COVID-19 among older adults aged ≥60 years (N=399) in China.

RESULTS

The results indicate that cognitive social capital significantly influenced protective behavior intention (P<.001), with cell phone exposure playing an additional impactful role (P<.001). By contrast, newspaper and radio exposure and television exposure mediated the influence of structural social capital on protective behavior intention (P<.001). Furthermore, negative emotions played a moderating role in the relationship between cognitive social capital and cell phone exposure (P<.001).

CONCLUSIONS

This study suggests that using tailored communication strategies across various media channels can effectively raise health awareness among older adults dealing with major pandemics in China, considering their diverse social capital characteristics and emotional states.

Strengthening social capital in the Sri Lankan population: A qualitative exploration of factors driving the mothers' support groups initiative during economic crisis

Background

Social capital is a concept that has been identified to improve health outcomes in many populations. Due to COVID-19 and many other factors, Sri Lanka faced a massive economic crisis that affected the nutrition of communities. Many community engagement initiatives have begun to promote the country's nutrition during the worst-hit years. The Mothers' Support Groups initiative is one of the existing community engagement initiatives that is well known for strengthening community social capital. This article discusses how the Mothers' Support Groups (MSG) initiative in Sri Lanka contributed to improving social capital in Sri Lanka during the economic crisis, focusing on nutrition.

Methods

We conducted a case study on the activities undertaken by mothers' support groups in view of how they focused on social capital. We selected all activities presented by districts that improved social capital related to nutrition promotion captured in the YouTube video stream. We analyzed these qualitative data to identify the main themes related to social capital and nutritional promotion. Two coders transcribed the video recordings. We analyzed the data using the iterative thematic inquiry (ITI) method and initially assessed beliefs about concepts, building new beliefs through encounters with data, listing tentative themes, and evaluating themes through coding.

Results

Six major themes were identified (that social capital had been strengthened to promote nutrition): awareness creation of nutrition, home gardening promotion, promoting livestock farming, minimizing food waste, improving the home economy, and psychosocial health promotion. The most common forms of social capital encountered in these themes were bonding, bridging, and linking. Furthermore, strengthening structural social capital is more prominent than strengthening cognitive social capital.

Conclusion

Social capital can improve nutritional status during crises. Activities that can be used to achieve this vary from simple awareness creation among communities to more advanced psychosocial health promotion. Overall, social capital contributed to the community development aspect of health promotion to a greater extent.