Study On Impact Of Social Capital On Mental Health Of Rural Residents In Two Counties, Shandong

BackgroundWith the rapid development of market economy, society competition is much fiercer,all kinds of mental illness are outstanding, and potential psychiatric patients are increasing. These will not only encourage people to focus on the methods to promote mental health, but also encourage people to explore the factors affecting mental health.Social capital, as an important social factor, has caused widespread concern of scholars, and also brings a new perspective to the research of mental health. Recently, with the implement of preferential policies vigorously, rural economic development and social life has been changed. To understand what changes in social capital and mental health of rural residents, clarify how social capital affects the mental health, there has a very important significance for building a new socialist countryside, building a harmonious socialist societyObjectiveTo understand the rural residents’ social capital status and mental health status by longitudinal analysis, explore how social capital affects the mental health, and put forward several mental health interventions for the health sectors.MethodsAccording to the research objective, we investigate 576households,662 people in Caoxian, and Chiping county of Shandong in 2006 and 2014 respectively.We use the method of stratified cluster random sampling according to the level of economic development and distribution. Basic information of this study is collected by "Chinese rural residents’life and health questionnaire" jointly compiled by Harvard University and Shandong University, and mental health status obtained by general health questionnaire which is a special screening scale in the world. The reliability analysis, factor analysis is adopted to test the reliability and validity of GHQ-12.Proportion, chi-square test, ANOVA statistical analysis and Generalized Estimating Equation are used in the study.Results1. In overall samples, GHQ detection rate of rural residents is 26.1% in 2006, comparing 19.8% in 2014, rural residents’mental health status becomes better and better. Specifically, "often feels pressure" "feels unhappy" and "insomnia because of concerns" has a higher positive detection rate, and they are also the main mental health problems that influence the rural residents, while the detection rate of "insomnia because of concerns" in 2014 is higher than that in 2006.2. From single-factor analysis we found that the main factors affecting the mental health of rural residents include:county, per capita income level, self-assessment of economic conditions and the overall level of social capital, in which, Caoxian, the low-income group, poor self-assessment of economic conditions and low social capital group have the higher GHQ detection rate.3. Constituent elements of social capital questionnaire include social reciprocity, social trust, interpersonal networks and neighborhood cohesion. From single-factor analysis we found that annual survey, gender and self-assessment of economic conditions have statistically significant impact on the social capital.4.Through the Generalized Estimating Equation analysis we found that the overall level of social capital and Constituent elements of social capital-social trust, social reciprocity and interpersonal networks have statistically significant impact on the rural residents’mental health, while the neighborhood cohesion has not statistically significant impact on the rural residents’mental health, when controlling counties, gender, culture level, occupation, per capita income level and self-assessment of economic conditions.Conclusion and suggestions:"Often feels pressure" "feels unhappy" and "insomnia because of concerns" are the main mental health problems that influence the rural residents. Counties, per capita income level, self-assessment of economic conditions and social capital have significant impact on mental health of the rural residents. It is worth noting that the mental health will be affected by the economic status to some extent. Mental health will be effected by social capital following two points:(1) the more social capital, the better mental health; (2) Social reciprocity, social trust, interpersonal networks have a positive impact on the mental health, the relationship of neighborhood cohesion and mental health need a further study. In order to further improve the mental health, we put forward three policy recommendations:(1)Promote the development of rural economy and narrow the gap among different income people.(2)Pay attention to the elderly, and relieve the stress of them.(3)Enrich the cultural recreational activities in rural areas and promote the accumulation of social capital.