ABSTRACT
Specialists in health promotion and public health have become increasingly aware that the ways in which individuals relate to wider social networks and communities have important effects on health and well-being. One way to explore this has been to develop the concept of social capital. Social capital is seen as a community-level attribute, and consists of the existence of social and community networks; civic engagement; local identity and a sense of belonging and solidarity with other community members; and norms of trust and reciprocal help and support (Putnam, 1993). The premise is that levels of ‘social capital’ in a community have an important effect on people’s well-being. Health behaviours and practices may superfi cially appear to be a private matter for the individual, but in reality health practices take place in a range of social arenas, which, for children,1 are constrained by everyday contexts, which will vary from school institution, family, and peer group and neighbourhood. … The research reported here attempted to explore how the
concept of social capital might relate to children’s social lives, and the implications of this concept for their well-being and their health.
