“SOCIAL CAPITAL AND HEALTH ACROSS A VARIETY OF WELFARE REGIMES”.

Abstract

This thesis analyses data from the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) 2017 to investigate the influence of network social capital (categorized by weak and strong ties) on both self-rated general and psychological health. In addition, it investigates variations in the impact of social capital across five theoretically distinctive welfare regimes: 23 countries grouped into “Social Democratic”, “Corporatist”, “Liberal”, “Post-communist”, and “East Asian” regimes. Multivariate logit regressions, multiple ordinary least square (OLS) regressions, and Karlson/Holm/Breen (KHB) method have been applied to the data. The main findings confirm the beneficial effects of network social capital (especially strong ties) on self-rated health, particularly in the context of a "liberal" welfare regime, where it is assumed, individuals will have to turn to family and friends for social security instead of relying on the state. It further identifies that regular exposure to various types of social activities fosters the growth of one’s network social capital.