Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Contextual and Compositional Associations of Social Capital and Subjective Happiness: A Multilevel Analysis from Seoul, South Korea

  • Research Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Happiness Studies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Although studies on the association between social capital and subjective well-being have been recently increasing many issues still remain unsolved. The purpose of this study is to investigate the association between various social capital dimensions both at the individual (political participation, network source, trust, and organizational participation) and area level (voting rate, trust, and organizational participation) and subjective well-being (happiness) using multilevel analysis while controlling for various control variables at multiple levels. Survey data was collected from December, 2010 to April, 2011 in Seoul, South Korea. The final sample was comprised of 4,585 respondents within all 25 administrative areas in Seoul. Results from the multilevel analysis revealed that all individual and area level (trust) social capital variables are positively associated with subjective happiness. Our findings also point to the need for more sophisticated studies with longitudinal datasets based on multilevel framework using instrumental variable analysis to clarify our knowledge regarding the effects of social capital on subjective well-being.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Values within parentheses are occupational prestige scores.

  2. Religious groups, political parties, hometown organizations, sports/outdoor clubs, hobby/cultural clubs, labor unions, environmental/animal protection organizations, humanitarian aid/human rights organizations, clan meetings through the Jong-Chin Organization (a group composed of people with the same family name), consumer protection groups, veteran’s groups, neighborhood watch or neighborhood improvement associations, alumni associations, parent-teacher associations, and volunteer organizations.

References

  • Beaudoin, C. E. (2009). Bonding and bridging neighborliness: An individual-level study in the context of health. Social Science and Medicine, 68, 2129–2136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Becchetti, L., Ricca, E. E., & Pelloni, A. (2011). The relationship between social leisure and life satisfaction: Causality and policy implications. Social Indicators Research,. doi:10.1007/s11205-011-9887-5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berry, H. L., & Welsh, J. A. (2010). Social capital and health in Australia: An overview from the household, income and labour dynamics in Australia survey. Social Science and Medicine, 70, 588–596.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bjornskov, C. (2003). The happy few: Cross-country evidence on social capital and life satisfaction. Kylos, 56, 3–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blanchflower, D. G., & Oswald, A. J. (2004). Well-being over time in Britain and the USA. Journal of Public Economics, 88, 1359–1386.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. G. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education (pp. 241–258). New York: Greenwood Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brunie, A. (2009). Meaningful distinctions within a concept: Relational, collective, and generalized social capital. Social Science Research, 83, 251–265.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Choi, T. R. (2001). Chanages in occupational prestige. The Review of Korean Sociology, 1, 67–100.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coleman, J. (1988). Social capital in the creation of human capital. American Journal of Sociology, 94((Suppl.)), S95–S120.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cramm, J. M., Møller, V., & Nieboer, A. P. (2012). Individual- and neighbourhood-level indicators of subjective well-being in a small and poor Eastern cape township: The effect of health, social capital, marital status, and income. Social Indicators Research, 105(3), 581–593.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deneulin, S., & Townsend, N. (2007). Public goods, global public goods and the common good. International Journal of Social Economic, 34, 19–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E. (2000). Subjective well-being: The science of happiness, and a proposal for a national index. American Psychologist, 55, 34–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diez Roux, A. V. (2001). Investigating neighborhood and area effects on health. American Journal of Public Health, 91(11), 1783–1789.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dolan, P., Peasgood, T., & White, M. (2008). Do we really know what makes us happy? A review of the economic literature on the factors associated with subjective well-being. Journal of Economic Psychology, 29, 94–122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ebbes, P., Bockenholt, U., & Wedel, M. (2004). Regressor and random-effects dependencies in multilevel models. Statistica Neerlandica, 58, 161–178.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elgar, F. J., Davis, C. G., Wohl, M. J., Trites, S. J., Zelenski, J. M., & Martin, M. S. (2011). Social capital, health and life satisfaction in 50 countries. Health and Place, 17, 1044–1053.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farrell, S., Aubry, T., & Coulombe, D. (2004). Neighborhoods and neighbors. Do they contribute to personal well-being? Journal of Community Psychology, 32, 9–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferlander, S., & Mäkinen, I. H. (2009). Social capital, gender and self-rated health. Evidence from the Moscow health survey 2004. Social Science and Medicine, 60, 1323–1332.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fujisawa, Y., Hamano, T., & Takegawa, S. (2009). Social capital and perceived health in Japan: An ecological and multilevel analysis. Social Science and Medicine, 69, 500–505.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giordano, G. N., Ohlsson, H., & Lindstrom, M. (2011). Social capital and health-purely a question of context? Health and Place, 17, 946–953.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gundelach, P., & Kreiner, S. (2004). Happiness and life satisfaction in advanced European countries. Cross-Cultural Research, 38, 359–386.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Habibov, N. N., & Afandi, E. N. (2011). Self-rated health and social capital in transitional countries: Multilevel analysis of comparative surveys in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. Social Science and Medicine, 72, 1193–1204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Han, S., Kim, H., & Lee, H. (2012). A multilevel analysis of social capital and self-reported health: Evidence from Seoul, South Korea. International Journal for Equity in Health,. doi:10.1186/1475-9276-11-3.

    Google Scholar 

  • Helliwell, J. F. (2007). Well-being and social capital: Does suicide pose a puzzle? Social Indicators Research, 81, 455–496.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Helliwell, J. F., & Putnam, R. (2004). The social context of well-being. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society London, 359, 1435–1446.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hooghe, M., & Vanhoutte, B. (2011). Subjective well-being and social capital in Belgian communities. The impact of community characteristics on subjective well-being indicators in Belgium. Social Indicators Research, 100, 17–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hox, J. (2010). Multilevel analysis: Techniques and applications (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kawachi, I. (2006). Commentary: Social capital and health: Making the connections one step at a time. International Journal of Epidemiology, 35, 989–993.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kawachi, I., Kennedy, B. P., & Wilkinson, R. G. (1999). Crime: Social disorganization and relative deprivation. Social Science and Medicine, 48, 719–731.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kawachi, I., Kim, D., Coutts, A., & Subramanian, S. V. (2004). Commentary: Reconciling the three accounts of social capital. International Journal of Epidemiology, 33, 682–690.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim, D., & Kawachi, I. (2006). A multilevel analysis of key forms of community and individual level social capital as predictors. Journal of Urban Health, 83, 813–826.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim, D., Baum, C. F., Ganz, M. L., Subramanian, S. V., & Kawachi, I. (2011). The contextual effects of social capital on health: A cross-national instrumental variable analysis. Social Science & Medicine, 73, 1689–1697.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leung, A., Kier, C., Fung, T., Fung, L., & Sproule, R. (2011). Searching for happiness: The importance of social capital. Journal of Happiness Studies, 12, 443–462.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin, N., & Dumin, M. (1986). Access to occupations through social ties. Social Networks, 8, 356–385.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lyubomirsky, S. (2001). Why are some people happier than others? The role of cognitive and motivational processes in well-being. American Psychologist, 56, 239–249.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lyubomirsky, S., & Lepper, H. S. (1999). A measure of subjective happiness: Preliminary reliability and construct validation. Social Indicators Research, 60, 137–155.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McMahan, E. A., & Estes, A. (2012). Age-related differences in lay conceptions of well-being and experienced well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies, 13(1), 79–101.

    Google Scholar 

  • Merlo, J., Ohlsson, H., Lynch, K. F., Chaix, B., & Subramanian, S. V. (2009). Individual and collective bodies: Using measures of variance and association in contextual epidemiology. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 63, 1043–1048.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell, A. D., & Bossert, T. J. (2007). Measuring dimensions of social capital: Evidence from surveys in poor communities in Nicaragua. Social Science and Medicine, 64, 50–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poortinga, W. (2006a). Social capital: An individual or collective resource for health? Social Science and Medicine, 62, 292–302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poortinga, W. (2006b). Social relations or social capital? Individual and community health effects of bonding social capital. Social Science and Medicine, 63, 255–270.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Portes, A. (1998). Social capital: Its origins and applications in modern sociology. Annual Review of Sociology, 24, 1–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Putnam, R. D. (1993). Making democracy work: Civic traditions in modern Italy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Putnam, R. D. (2000). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community. New York: Simon & Schuster.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rabe-Hesketh, S., & Skrondal, A. (2008). Multilevel and longitudinal modeling using stata (2nd ed.). Texas: Stata Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ram, R. (2010). Social capital and happiness: Additional cross-country evidence. Journal of Happiness Studies, 11, 409–418.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raudenbush, S. W., & Bryk, A. S. (2002). Hierarchical linear models. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schiffrin, H. H., & Nelson, S. K. (2010). Stressed and happy? Investigating the relationship between happiness and perceived stress. Journal of Happiness Studies, 11, 33–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schultz, J., O’Brien, A. M., & Tadesse, B. (2008). Social capital and self-rated health: Results from the US 2006 social capital survey of one community. Social Science and Medicine, 67, 606–617.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Snelgrove, J. W., Pikhart, H., & Stafford, M. (2009). A multilevel analysis of social capital and self-rated health: Evidence from the British household panel survey. Social Science and Medicine, 68, 1993–2001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Snijders, T., & Bosker, R. (1999). Multilevel analysis: An introduction to basic and applied multilevel analysis. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tokuda, Y., Fujii, S., & Inoguchi, T. (2010). Individual and country-level effects of social trust on happiness: The Asia barometer survey. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 40, 2574–2593.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Treiman, D. J. (2009). Quantitative data analysis: Doing social research to test ideas. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

  • Veenstra, G., Luginaah, I., Wakefield, S., Birch, S., Eyles, J., & Elliot, S. (2005). Who you know, where you live: Social capital, neighborhood and health. Social Science and Medicine, 60, 2799–2818.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Winkelmann, R. (2009). Unemployment, social capital, and subjective well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies, 10, 421–430.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yamaoka, K. (2008). Social capital and health and well-being in East Asia: A population-based study. Social Science and Medicine, 66, 885–899.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yip, W., Subramanian, S. V., Mitchell, A. D., Lee, D. T. S., Wang, J., & Kawachi, I. (2007). Does social capital enhance health and well-being? Evidence from rural China. Social Science and Medicine, 64, 35–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Administration, Hanyang University, 17 Haengdang-dong, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, 133-791, South Korea

    Sehee Han & Hee-Sun Lee

  2. Graduate School of Public Policy Hanyang University, 17 Haengdang-dong, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, 133-791, South Korea

    Heaseung Kim

  3. Korea Food and Drug Administration, Osong Health Technology Administration Complex, 643 Yeonje-ri, Gangoe-myeon, Cheongwon-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do, 363-951, South Korea

    Eung-Sun Lee

Authors
  1. Sehee Han
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Heaseung Kim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Eung-Sun Lee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Hee-Sun Lee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hee-Sun Lee.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Han, S., Kim, H., Lee, ES. et al. The Contextual and Compositional Associations of Social Capital and Subjective Happiness: A Multilevel Analysis from Seoul, South Korea. J Happiness Stud 14, 1183–1200 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-012-9375-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-012-9375-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation