Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Mar 20;19(6):3698.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph19063698.

Social Capital as a Mediator and Moderator in the Association between Loneliness and Health, Israel as a Case Study

Orna Baron-Epel  1 , Roni Elran-Barak  1 , Milka Donchin  2   3
Affiliations

Social Capital as a Mediator and Moderator in the Association between Loneliness and Health, Israel as a Case Study

Orna Baron-Epel et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Loneliness has been associated with poor health. Social capital (SC) could possibly prevent the ill effects of loneliness. The study aims to assess the association of loneliness with physical and mental health in four different communities in Israel and study the impact of structural and cognitive SC on that association. A cross-sectional face-to-face survey with 4620 adults in four towns was conducted. The questionnaire included self-rated health (SRH), mental health (MH), loneliness, cognitive and structural SC and socioeconomic characteristics. Logistic regression analysis and mediation and moderation effects were calculated. Loneliness was associated with worse SRH (OR = 0.4-0.5) and worse MH (OR = 2.0-10). Both SC variables were associated with health. However, towns differ in these associations. Structural SC serves as a significant mediator between loneliness and SRH in all towns and is a mediator between loneliness and MH in two towns. Cognitive social capital was a moderator between loneliness and MH in two towns. This study suggests that increasing SC could possibly compensate for loneliness and buffer its effect on health. The study reinforces the need for the performance of separate health profiles to assess possible interventions for each community, as not always can we generalize these results to all communities.

Keywords: Arabs; Jews; cognitive; loneliness; psychosomatic symptoms; self-rated health; social capital; structural.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Hypothesised model depicting the association between loneliness and health.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Duke L.H. The importance of social ties in mental health. Ment. Health Soc. Incl. 2017;21:264–270. doi: 10.1108/MHSI-07-2017-0029. - DOI
    1. Richard A., Rohrmann S., Vandeleur C.L., Schmid M., Barth J., Eichholzer M. Loneliness is adversely associated with physical and mental health and lifestyle factors: Results from a Swiss national survey. PLoS ONE. 2017;12:e0181442. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0181442. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cacioppo J.T., Hawkley L.C. Social isolation and health, with an emphasis on underlying mechanisms. [(accessed on 11 November 2021)];Perspect. Biol. Med. 2003 46:S39–S52. doi: 10.1353/pbm.2003.0049. Available online: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/44865/summary. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Courtin E., Knapp M. Social isolation, loneliness and health in old age: A scoping review. Health Soc. Care Community. 2017;25:799–812. doi: 10.1111/hsc.12311. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Cacioppo J.T., Hawkley L.C., Crawford L.E., Ernst J.M., Burleson M.H., Kowalewski R.B., Malarkey W.B., Van Cauter E., Berntson G.G. Loneliness and health: Potential mechanisms. Psychosom. Med. 2002;64:407–417. doi: 10.1097/00006842-200205000-00005. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources