Association between social capital and physical activity among community-dwelling elderly in Wuhan, China

Background: Social capital is important for people's health. Few studies have examined the influence of social capital on physical activity among elderly. This study aimed to explore the association between social capital and physical activity among Chinese community-dwelling elderly. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted for data collection in 2014. A total of 1210 participants entered the study. Participants were categorized as active or inactive according to self-reported physical activity. Personal Social Capital Scale-16 was used to measure social capital. Logistic regression models were used to examine the association between social capital and physical activity. Results: The results showed that participants who were physically active had higher social capital scores (45.6 +/- 8.2) than those who were physically inactive (38.8 +/- 7.9) (P < .001). Participants with midlevel and high level bonding social capital were associated with increased odds of physical activity (0.54, 95% CI: 0.37-0.79 and 0.39, 95%CI: 0.21-0.65, respectively), compared to those with low bonding social capital. The data also showed that participants with midlevel and high level bridging social capital were associated with increased odds of physical activity (0.40, 95%CI:0.22-0.76 and 0.27, 95%CI:0.15-0.49, respectively), compared to those with low level bridging social capital. Conclusion: Both bonding and bridging social capital were associated with physical activity among Chinese elderly. It is suggested that health promotion programs targeting elderly adults' physical activity should consider bonding/bridging social capital factors. Copyright (C) 2017, Taiwan Society of Geriatric Emergency & Critical Care Medicine. Published by Elsevier Taiwan LLC.