Research Article

Social, Religious and Spiritual Capital and Physical/Emotional Functioning in a National Sample of African Americans

  1. Cheryl L. Holt1,*,
  2. Emily Schulz2,
  3. Beverly R. Williams3,
  4. Eddie M. Clark4,
  5. Min Qi Wang1

Article first published online: 21 AUG 2011

DOI: 10.1002/casp.1116

Issue

Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology

Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology

Volume 22, Issue 4, pages 346–362, July/August 2012

Additional Information

How to Cite

Holt, C. L., Schulz, E., Williams, B. R., Clark, E. M. and Wang, M. Q. (2012), Social, Religious and Spiritual Capital and Physical/Emotional Functioning in a National Sample of African Americans. J. Community. Appl. Soc. Psychol., 22: 346–362. doi: 10.1002/casp.1116

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Behavioral and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

  2. 2

    Department of Occupational Therapy, Arizona School of Health Sciences, Mesa, AZ, USA

  3. 3

    Division of Gerontology/Geriatrics/Palliative Care, Department of Medicine, Birmingham VA Medical Center and University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA

  4. 4

    Department of Psychology, Saint Louis University, Saint Louis, MO, USA

*Cheryl L. Holt, Department of Behavioral and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, 2369 Public Health Building (255), College Park, MD 20742, USA.
E-mail: cholt14@umd.edu

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 14 MAY 2012
  2. Article first published online: 21 AUG 2011
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 14 JUL 2011
  4. Manuscript Revised: 27 JUN 2011
  5. Manuscript Received: 26 AUG 2010

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Keywords:

  • social capital;
  • religious capital;
  • spiritual capital;
  • physical functioning;
  • emotional functioning

ABSTRACT

Spiritual and religious capital are forms of the broader construct of social capital. The present study, using probability-based sampling methods, surveyed a national sample of African American adults to examine the relative contributions of spiritual and religious capital to their physical and emotional functioning. Analyses were conducted to determine if these constructs made a unique contribution above and beyond general social capital. African American men and women (N = 803) were interviewed by telephone. Hierarchical linear regressions revealed that, across the full sample, although social capital was a positive predictor of physical and emotional functioning (p < .05 and p < .001), neither religious nor spiritual capital made an additional contribution to these outcomes. However, the relationships among these variables differed for men and women. Among men, social capital predicted positive emotional functioning (p < .001) but not physical functioning; spiritual and religious capital made no additional contribution to either outcome variable. Among women, social capital predicted positive emotional functioning (p < .01) but not physical functioning. However, religious capital did make a significant additional contribution to the prediction of emotional functioning (ΔR2, p < .01). Dividing the sample into different age groups did not produce any different findings from those found with the sample as a whole. Findings are discussed in terms of implications for church- and faith-based health promotion interventions aimed at health disparities reduction. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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