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Social assets and mental distress among the homeless: Exploring the roles of social support and other forms of social capital on depression

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  • Irwin, Jay
  • LaGory, Mark
  • Ritchey, Ferris
  • Fitzpatrick, Kevin

Abstract

This paper explores the role of social capital in mediating the effects of stressors on depression among a disadvantaged population. Utilizing a survey of 155 homeless people in a mid-sized southern U.S. city, the authors address the relevance of social capital for quality of life. The paper provides a critical test of whether social support and other forms of social capital matter when monetary and human capital is extremely limited. Under these resource-restricted circumstances does social capital add to our understanding of the distress process or does it merely restate the well established relationship between social support and quality of life outcomes? Various forms of social capital are measured: religious social capital, group participation, social trust, and bridging social capital along with a commonly used measure of social support -- perceived strong tie support. Findings suggest that social capital matters for even the most resource poor populations. In addition, social capital variables add significantly to the variance explained in depressive symptomatology over and above that traditionally explained by perceived social support.

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  • Irwin, Jay & LaGory, Mark & Ritchey, Ferris & Fitzpatrick, Kevin, 2008. "Social assets and mental distress among the homeless: Exploring the roles of social support and other forms of social capital on depression," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(12), pages 1935-1943, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:67:y:2008:i:12:p:1935-1943
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    2. Adam Pine, 2023. "Ambient struggling: food, chronic disease, and spatial isolation among the urban poor," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(3), pages 1105-1116, September.
    3. Moschion, Julie & van Ours, Jan C., 2021. "Do transitions in and out of homelessness relate to mental health episodes? A longitudinal analysis in an extremely disadvantaged population," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
    4. Zhu, Alex Yue Feng & Chou, Kee Lee, 2022. "Depression among poor older adults: The role of social support," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 311(C).
    5. Barman-Adhikari, Anamika & Rice, Eric, 2014. "Social networks as the context for understanding employment services utilization among homeless youth," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 90-101.
    6. Kevin M. Fitzpatrick & Don E. Willis, 2021. "Homeless and hungry: food insecurity in the land of plenty," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(1), pages 3-12, February.
    7. Qiaohong Yang & Don Operario & Nickolas Zaller & Wen Huang & Yanyan Dong & Hongbo Zhang, 2018. "Depression and its correlations with health-risk behaviors and social capital among female migrants working in entertainment venues in China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(2), pages 1-13, February.
    8. Zack W Almquist, 2020. "Large-scale spatial network models: An application to modeling information diffusion through the homeless population of San Francisco," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 47(3), pages 523-540, March.
    9. Verduin, Femke & Smid, Geert E. & Wind, Tim R. & Scholte, Willem F., 2014. "In search of links between social capital, mental health and sociotherapy: A longitudinal study in Rwanda," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 1-9.
    10. Maselko, Joanna & Hughes, Cayce & Cheney, Rose, 2011. "Religious social capital: Its measurement and utility in the study of the social determinants of health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(5), pages 759-767, September.
    11. Lars Kunze & Nicolai Suppa, 2020. "Who Is Bowling Alone? Quantile Treatment Effects of Unemployment on Social Participation," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1077, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    12. Eric R. Wright & Brandon K. Attell & Erin Ruel, 2017. "Social Support Networks and the Mental Health of Runaway and Homeless Youth," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 6(4), pages 1-16, September.

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