Recent public health research suggests that a specific aspect of community, social capital, is associated with health, but there is very little direct study of its influence on health maintaining activities, such as physical activity. It is now widely accepted that older adults can obtain significant health benefits through physical activity. Older persons become increasingly vulnerable to the effects of community environment and thus it is important to consider neighborhood effect when studying aging. However, no studies to date have examined the impact of neighborhood effect when studying aging. However, no studies to date have examined the impact of neighborhood social capital on health or health behaviors among older adults. This study is designed to coordinate with a large, NIA-funded intervention trial, the SHAPE Project (PI: Fisher), which aims to increase physical activity among elderly citizens in Portland, Oregon. There are three primary goals of this study: (1) pilot new measures of neighborhood-level social capital on neighborhoods in mid-sized city; (2) investigate the social, cultural, and environmental factors that predict neighborhood-level social capital; and (3) examine the relationship between neighborhood-level social capital and health among older adults living in these neighborhoods. To achieve these goals, 300 adults selected at random from 10 of the neighborhoods included in the SHAPE comparison group (30 adults in each neighborhood) will be interviewed about five topics integral for neighborhood level social capital: view of local area, civic engagement, reciprocity and local trust, social networks, and social support. In addition, focus groups will be conducted among different neighborhood members to validate the survey and to add contextual detail about the neighborhood. Aggregated social capital data will be linked to the existing health data collected for the SHAPE project. Our proposed research represents a unique opportunity to utilize health and physical activity data collected for the SHAPE study, as well as an opportunity to develop pilot data relating social capital to health and health behaviors among seniors, leading to new studies on determinants of late life health.
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