Umeå University's logo

Background: Child health inequalities can be explained by social determinants of health, including neighborhood social capital. Swedish research about place effects on children's health is limited. This project aims to contribute to knowledge on how neighborhood social capital may influence child health in the Swedish context. The overall research questions were: What is the incidence rate of child injuries in the living environments among boys and girls? What are the associations between neighborhood social capital and child injuries?

Methods: Child injury data from the Umeå SIMSAM Lab were utilized, with data from all children 0-12 years of age, living in Umeå municipality during 2006-2009. Individual child injury and residential area data were linked to a neighborhood social capital index, where 49 defined neighborhoods were assigned a score from low- high in social capital, based on people’s perceptions about their neighborhoods. Individual, household and neighborhood demographic and socioeconomic variables (country of birth, educational level, income and family type) were also extracted from the Umeå SIMSAM lab. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to analyze factors associated with child injury.

Results: We observed 3930 injury events that occurred in the living environments, experienced by 24 000 children who lived in 14 767 households within 49 neighborhoods. The incidence rate of child injuries was about 72.5/1000 for boys and 60/1000 for girls. The odds for child injures was lower in neighborhoods with high social capital compared to neighborhoods with low social capital (OR 0.87 95%CI 0.80-0.95) after controlling for demographic and socioeconomic factors at individual, household and neighborhood level. The protective effects of neighborhood social capital were stronger for girls than boys.

Conclusions: Neighborhood social capital may have a protective effect on child injuries and especially so for girls.

Key messages:

• Neighborhood conditions have a significant influence on child health inequalities in the Swedish context, including inequalities in child injuries.
• Mobilization of neighborhood social capital might be good investment for reducing child injuries.