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The association of community and individual parental social capital with behavior problems among children in Japan: results from A-CHILD longitudinal study

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to determine the association of individual-level and community-level parental social capital with childhood behavior problems using population-based longitudinal data in Japan.

Methods

We analyzed data from a population-based longitudinal survey study which followed first-grade elementary school children (6–7 years old) in Adachi City, Tokyo, Japan. At baseline, the parents of first-grade students from all 69 elementary schools in Adachi City were asked to respond to a questionnaire assessing behavior problems and prosocial behavior (using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) and parental social capital in the community (N = 5494). Data on follow-up questionnaires on behavior problems were collected when children were second grade. Among both surveys, 3656 parents returned valid responses. The association between individual-level and community-level parental social capital and children's behavior problems were analyzed using multilevel analyses adjusting for covariates.

Results

Community-level social capital was positively associated with prosocial behaviors, but not for total difficulties, after adjustment for covariates (coefficient = 0.19, 95% CI 0.03 to 0.36). Individual-level parental social capital was also positively associated with prosocial behaviors (coefficient = 0.27, 95% CI 0.12 to 0.41) and negatively associated with total difficulties (coefficient = − 0.54, 95% CI − 0.89 to − 0.19).

Conclusions

This study showed that greater community-level social capital can benefit children with increased prosocial behaviors. Individual-level parental social capital can be protective of youth by increasing prosocial behaviors and reducing difficult behaviors. Boosting both community and individual social capital can be a promising means to enhance children’s well-being.

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Acknowledgements

We are particularly appreciative to the staff members and central office of Adachi City Hall for conducting the survey. We would like to thank everyone who participated in the surveys. This study was supported by a Health Labour Sciences Research Grant, Comprehensive Research on Lifestyle Disease from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (H27-Jyunkankito-ippan-002), and Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS KAKENHI Grant nos. 16H03276, 16K21669, and 16J11423), St. Luke’s Life Science Institute Grants, and the Japan Health Foundation Grants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Global Health Promotion, Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU), 1-5-45 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8519, Japan

    Yu Funakoshi, Aya Isumi, Satomi Doi, Manami Ochi & Takeo Fujiwara

  2. Department of Community Health Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health, 715 Albany St., Boston, MA, USA

    Ziming Xuan

  3. Department of Health and Welfare Services, National Institute of Public Health, 2-3-6 Minami, Wako, Saitama, 351-0197, Japan

    Manami Ochi

Authors
  1. Yu Funakoshi
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  2. Ziming Xuan
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  3. Aya Isumi
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  4. Satomi Doi
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  5. Manami Ochi
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  6. Takeo Fujiwara
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. YF performed the analyses and wrote the first draft, AI, SD, MO collected the data, all authors commented on previous version of the manuscript, and all authors approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Takeo Fujiwara.

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Funakoshi, Y., Xuan, Z., Isumi, A. et al. The association of community and individual parental social capital with behavior problems among children in Japan: results from A-CHILD longitudinal study. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 56, 119–127 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-020-01866-0

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