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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Kim Bloomfield, DrPH, Department of Health Promotion Research, University of Southern Denmark, Niels Bohrs Vej 9, Esbjerg, 6700, Denmark, +4565504111, kbl@health.sdu.dk, Hanna Barbara Rasmussen, MA, Department of Epidemiology, Copenhagen University, Øster Farimagsgade 5, Copenahgen, 1014, Denmark, and Ulrike Grittner, DrPhil, Institute for Medical Biometrics and Clinical Epidemiology, Charite - University Medicine Berlin, Schumannstr. 20-21, Berlin, 10117, Germany.

Introduction. “Social capital,” a contextual construct involving a sense of civic engagement, trust and mutual obligation is receiving increased attention in Public Health. Few studies have looked at social capital and alcohol use, and even fewer have involved general populations. We examine the relationship social capital to drinking in a representative sample of the Danish general population and hypothesize that higher levels of social capital will be associated with lower risky drinking. Methods. Data come from a national telephone survey of the Danish general population in 2003 with a sample of 2030 cases aged 15-99 years. Four separate indices on trust, social support, networks and voluntarism were constructed as indicators of dimensions of social capital. These were examined in relation to heavy drinking and heavy episodic drinking. Results. Preliminary results indicate that only support and network indices influence drinking measures. For both genders social support was positively associated with risky drinking. Also it was positively associated with drinking among those without vocational training and among younger people. Social network was positively associated with both drinking measures among men, and was positively associated with heavy drinking among those without vocational training. Conclusion. Our hypothesis did not hold for this European society. Some explanation can be found in the separate social network literature which predicts that behaviour is influenced by social circles. Another is that volunteerism has differing importance in North America vs. Scandinavia. Suggestions for better specification of the construct at the individual level and for international use are proposed.

Learning Objectives: At the end of the presentation the participant will be able to

• recognize and describe the dimensions of social capital.
• describe how social capital relates to risky alcohol use in the Danish general population.
• Articulate the shortcomings of the concept social capital in Public Health use and develop suggestions for better conceptualization.

Keywords: Alcohol Use, Epidemiology

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered