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It is widely accepted that social capital is a phenomenon that promotes positive democratic processes as well as enhancing public health. Yet providing empirical proof of its effect on public health is a serious challenge-and the main focus of this book.

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Social capital is a widely acknowledged candidate for implementing beneficial democratic processes and promoting public health. Healthy ties. Social capital, population health and survival traces the path from the conceptualization to the implementation of social capital. To provide empirical proof of the effects of social capital on public health is a serious challenge and the main focus of the book.
In the Nordic countries, personal identification codes linking data from various sources, nation-wide population registers, nationally representative and re-tested health surveys, and the long tradition of epidemiology submit to serve well the research into social capital and public health. Up-to-date longitudinal data on social capital and health outcomes are carefully described and reviewed in this book.
In Finland, the Swedish-speaking minority is very long-lived and has better health as compared with the Finnish-speaking majority.

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What Is Social Capital?.- Definitions and Forms of Social Capital.- Measuring Social Capital.- Social Participation.- How Does Cultural Participation Contribute to Social Capital and Well-Being?.- Social Trust, Mistrust and Reciprocity.- Cross-Sectional Studies of Social Capital and Health.- Prospective Longitudinal Surveys.- Healthy Communities.- Social Capital and Health from Cradle to Grave.- Gendering Social Capital and Population Health.- Health-Related Behaviors.- Proposed Biological Mediating Mechanisms.- Emergent Social Capital.- Implications and Implementations.

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