Social capital as a moderator of the relationship between violent community environment and psychological distress

Objective

To evaluate the modifying effect of social capital on the relationship between living in violent communities and the presence of psychological distress in adolescents and youth in Mexico.

Method

The analysis of the Social Cohesion Survey for the Prevention of Violence and Crime (ECOPRED, by its acronym in Spanish) was conducted. The analytic sample consisted of 39,639 participants aged 12 to 29 years. Community violence and social capital were measured at the census tract level using the average answers of a household's head sample. These environmental variables were independent of the experiences of the participants. Social capital variables included structural (social ties, recreational participation, collaborative participation, and social cohesion), and cognitive (trust in neighbors) dimensions. Multilevel structural equation models were used.

Results

Recreational participation, collaborative participation, and social cohesion modified the relationship between community environments and psychological distress. In females who lived in places with less recreational participation or less social cohesion, the higher the social disorder, the higher the psychological distress. A similar relationship between vandalism and psychological distress was identified, but only in males who lived in places with less collaborative participation, and in females with less social cohesion.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that dimensions of the structural social capital (organization and interest in the community and its members) were the ones that had the buffering effect of the exposure to disordered community environments on psychological distress.