A multilevel analysis of social capital and self-reported health: evidence from Seoul, South Korea

Abstract

This study aims to resolve two limitations of previous studies. First, as only a few studies examining social capital have been conducted in non-western countries, it is inconclusive that the concept, which has been developed in Western societies, applies similarly to an Asian context. Second, this study considers social capital at the individual-level, area-level and cross-levels of interaction and examines its associations with health while simultaneously controlling for various confounders at both the individual-level and area-level, whereas previous studies only considered one of the two levels. The purpose of this study is therefore to examine the associations between social capital and health by using multilevel analysis after controlling for various confounders both at the individual and area-levels (i.e., concentrated disadvantage) in non-western countries.