Abstract
Purpose: This study aimed to understand the actual state of social capital (SC) and the relationship of SC with social attributes among residents of a fishing village to promote community-based health programs. Method: A questionnaire was sent to all 449 residents in the C area of B city of A prefecture. The questionnaire consisted of questions related to social attributes, self-rated health status, life satisfaction, residence intention, and SC. Results: A total of 220 responses were obtained (response rate: 49.0%). In terms of realities of SC, "relationship with friends" and "relationship with kin" were significantly more numerous among subjects aged 65-74 years. "Relationship with neighborhood", "relationship with kin", and "participation in local events" were significantly less common among subjects aged 20-39 years. Regarding the SC indices evaluated, the "networks and relationships index" showed the highest value (-0.025±0.8), and the scores of the "trust index", "social participation index", "bonding index", and "total index" were significantly less among subjects aged 20-39 years. Discussion: The SC of people living in the C area was higher than that of people in Japan as a whole. This means that people living there trust each other. In contrast, individuals aged 20-39 years and those aged over 75 years had fewer networks. In fishing villages on solitary islands, promoting intergenerational communication and communication with people living in other areas is important to promote health activities and community-based health programs.
