Temporal heterogeneity of the association between social capital and health: an age-period-cohort analysis in China.

Objective: The temporal heterogeneity of the association between social capital and health has not been fully discussed yet, so this study aimed to examine whether and how the association between social capital and health varied with age, period, and cohort.

Methods: Data were taken from the Chinese General Social Survey of 2005 and 2015, with 15,488 samples being collected. Methods: An ordinary least square model with interaction terms was used to examine the age, period, and cohort variations in the association between bonding/bridging social capital and self-rated health/depression from the perspective of urban-rural comparison.

Results: In urban China, the association between bonding social capital and self-rated health varied with age, the association between bonding social capital and depression varied with age and cohort, the association between bridging social capital and self-rated health varied with period, and the association between bridging social capital and depression varied with period and cohort. By contrast, in rural China, only the association between bonding social capital and self-rated health varied with period and the association between bridging social capital and depression varied with cohort.

Conclusions: This study extends the traditional perspective of social capital and health study, and the results indicate that we should not only examine the association between social capital and health from the perspective of urban-rural comparison but also consider the impacts of life course and social development on this association. In this sense, specific interventions should be taken to improve social capital and health.