The Role of Social Capital in the Relationship between Social Inequalities and Health: Multilevel Analyses of Longitudinal Evidence from Switzerland

Social capital has recently gained increased interest among health promotion. In fact, it has been established that social capital can improve health trough influence of healthier behaviors; access to services; and psychosocial processes as providing affective support. Still, evidence suggests that social capital not only offers a positive and a buffer function, but it can also represent a potential negative effect for health arising from social inequality and exclusion. Taking place in Switzerland, mostly in the city of Chavannes-près-Renens, where the Participatory Action Research (PAR) project "Cause Commune" for health and social action has been conducted since 2019, the aim of this thesis will be to study under which conditions and to which social groups, individual- and contextual-level social capital can offer, either a buffer, or a negative effect for health. To achieve this objective, multilevel analyses will be performed on longitudinal data. Providing an in-depth study on the role of social capital in socioeconomic health inequalities in Switzerland, we aim to provide knowledge of the pathways involved in the reduction or increase of health inequalities in order to contribute to a healthier society.