This article describes the influences of social context on women’s health behavior through illustration of the powerful influences of social capital (the benefits and challenges that accrue from participation in social networks and groups) on experiences and perceptions of self-efficacy. The authors conducted inductive interviews with Latino and Filipino academics and social service providers and with U.S.-born and immigrant Latinas and Filipinas to explore direct and indirect influences of social context on health behaviors such as mammography screening. Iterative thematic analysis identified themes (meanings of efficacy, spheres of efficacy, constraints on efficacy, sources of social capital, and differential access to and quality of social capital) that link the domain of social capital with the behavioral construct perceived self-efficacy. The authors conclude that social capital addresses aspects of social context absent in the current self-efficacy construct and that these aspects have important implications for scholars’ and practitioners’ understandings of health behavior and intervention development.
Ajzen, I. ( 1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 179-211.
2.
Bandura, A. ( 1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84, 191-215.
3.
Bandura, A. ( 1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A Social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
4.
Bandura, A. ( 1995). Exercise of personal and collective efficacy in changing societies. In A. Bandura (Ed.), Self-efficacy in changing societies (pp. 1-45). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
5.
Bandura, A. ( 1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman.
6.
Bay Area Census. (2000). San Francisco Bay area. Retrieved from http://www.bayareacensus.ca.gov/bayarea.htm
7.
Bernard, R. ( 2005). Research methods in anthropology: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira .
8.
Bourdieu, P. ( 1985). The forms of capital. In J. G. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education (pp. 241-258). New York: Greenwood.
9.
Bourdieu, P. ( 1990). The logic of practice. Stanford, CA : Stanford University Press.
10.
Bourgois, P. ( 1995). In search of respect: Selling crack in el barrio. Structural analysis in the social sciences. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
11.
Burke, N.J., Joseph, G., Pasick, R.J., & Barker, J.C. ( 2009). Theorizing social context: Rethinking behavioral theory . Health Education & Behavior, 36(Suppl. 1), 55S-70S.
12.
Coleman, J. ( 1988). Social capital in the creation of human capital. American Journal of Sociology, 94(s1), S95.
13.
Emmons, K.M. ( 2000). Health behaviors in a social context. In L. F. Berkman & I. Kawachi (Eds.), Social epidemiology (pp. 242-266). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
14.
Fernandez, J., & Herzfeld, M. ( 1998). In search of meaningful methods. In R. Bernard (Ed.), Handbook of methods in cultural anthropology (pp. 89-130). London: Sage.
15.
Flores-Ortiz, Y.G. ( 2004). Domestic violence in Chicana/o families. In R. J. Velasquez, L. M. Arellano , & B. W. McNeill (Eds.), The handbook of Chicana/o psychology and mental health (pp. 267-284). New York: Routledge.
16.
Frankenberg, E. ( 2004). Sometimes it takes a village: Collective efficacy and children’s use of prevention health care (Online working paper series) . Los Angeles: California Center for Population Research.
17.
Geertz, C. ( 1973). The interpretation of cultures: Selected essays. New York: Basic Books.
Graham, S., & Weiner, B. ( 1996). Theories and principles of motivation. In D. C. Berliner & R. C. Calfee (Eds.), Handbook of educational psychology (pp. 63-84). New York: Simon & Schuster.
20.
Hiatt, R.A., Pasick, R.J., Perez-Stable, E.J., McPhee, S., Engelstad, L., Lee, M., et al. (1996). Pathways to early cancer detection in the multiethnic population of the San Francisco Bay area. Health Education Quarterly, 23(S), S10-S27.
21.
Jacobs, E.A. ( 2005). Limited English proficiency and breast and cervical cancer screening in a multiethnic population. American Journal of Public Health, 95(8), 1410-1416.
22.
Jerusalem, M., & Mittag, W. ( 1995). Self-efficacy in stressful life transitions. In A. Bandura (Ed.), Self-efficacy in stressful life transitions (pp. 175-201). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
23.
Joseph, G., Burke, N.J., Tuason, N., Barker, J.C., & Pasick, R.J. ( 2009). Perceived susceptibility to illness and perceived benefits of preventive care: An exploration of behavioral theory constructs in a transcultural context. Health Education & Behavior, 36(Suppl. 1), 71S-90S.
24.
Kagawa-Singer, M., Pourat, N., Breen, N., Coughlin, S., Abend McLean, T., McNeel, T.S., et al. (2007). Breast and cervical cancer screening rates of subgroups of Asian American women in California. Medical Care Research and Review, 64, 706-730.
25.
Kawachi, I., & Berkman, L. ( 2000). Social cohesion, social capital, and health. In L. F. Berkman & I. Kawachi (Eds.), Social epidemiology (pp. 174-190). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
26.
Kiefer, C.W.2007. Doing health anthropology: Research methods for community assessment and change. New York: Springer.
27.
Kleinman, A. ( 1981). Patients and healers in the context of culture. Berkeley: University of California Press.
28.
Kreuter, M.W., & Lezin, N. ( 2002). Social capital theory: Implications for community-based health promotion. In R. DiClemente, R. A. Crosby, & M. C. Kegler (Eds.), Emerging theories in health promotion practice and research: Strategies for improving public health (pp. 228-254). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
29.
Lambert, H., & McKevitt, C. ( 2002). Anthropology in health research: From qualitative methods to multidisciplinarity. British Medical Journal, 325, 210-213.
30.
Luszczynska, A., & Schwarzer, R. ( 2005). Multidimensional health locus of control: Comments on the construct and its measurement. Journal of Health Psychology , 10, 633-642.
31.
Magalong, M.G., & Takahashi, L.M. (2006, August). Toward a social capital of empowerment. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Retrieved October 5, 2006, from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p103676_index.html
32.
Mitchell, C.U., & LaGory, M. (2002). Social capital and mental distress in an impoverished community. City & Community , 1, 2.
33.
Muntaner, C., Lynch, J., & Smith, G.D. ( 2001). Soc cap, disorganized communities, and the third way: Understanding the retreat from structural inequalities in epidemiology and public health. International Journal of Health Services, 31(2), 213-237.
34.
Pasick, R.J., Barker, J.C., Otero-Sabogal, R., Burke, N.J., Joseph, G., & Guerra, C. ( 2009). Intention, subjective norms, and cancer screening in the context of relational culture. Health Education & Behavior, 36(Suppl. 1), 91S-110S.
35.
Pasick, R.J., & Burke, N. ( 2008). A critical review of theory in breast cancer screening promotion across cultures. Annual Review of Public Health , 29, 351-368.
36.
Pasick, R.J., Burke, N.J., Barker, J.C., Joseph, G., Bird, J.A., Otero-Sabogal, R., et al. (2009). Behavioral theory in a diverse society: Like a compass on Mars. Health Education & Behavior, 36(Suppl. 1), 11S-35S.
37.
Portes, A. ( 1998). Social capital: Its origins and applications in modern sociology. Annual Reviews, 24, 1-24.
38.
Portes, A., & Landolt, P. ( 1996). The downside of social capital. American Prospect, 26, 18-22.
39.
Prochaska, J.O., Norcross, J.C., Fowler, J., Follick, M.J., & Abrams, D.B. ( 1992). Attendance and outcome in a worksite weight control program: Processes and stages of change as process and predictor variables. Addictive Behaviors, 17, 35-45.
40.
Putnam, R. ( 1995). Bowling alone: America’s declining social capital . Journal of Democracy, 6, 65-78.
41.
Sampson, R.J. ( 2003). Neighborhood-level context and health: Lessons from sociology . In I. Kawachi & L. F. Berkman (Eds.), Neighborhoods and health (pp. 132-146). New York: Oxford University Press.
42.
Sandelowski, M. ( 1995). Focus on qualitative methods: Sample size in qualitative research. Research in Nursing & Health, 18, 179-183.
43.
Schweizer, T. ( 1998). Epistemology: The nature and validation of anthropological knowledge. In R. Bernard (Ed.), Handbook of methods in cultural anthropology (pp. 39-88). London : Sage.
44.
Skrabski, A., Kopp, M., & Kawachi, I. ( 2004). Social capital and collective efficacy in Hungary: Cross sectional associations with middle aged female and male mortality rates. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 58, 340-345.
45.
Sluzki, C.E. ( 1979). Migration and family conflict. Family Process, 18, 379-390.
46.
Stewart, S.L., Rakowski, W., & Pasick, R.J. ( 2009). Behavioral constructs and mammography in five ethnic groups. Health Education & Behavior, 36(Suppl. 1), 36S-54S.
47.
Veenstra, G. ( 2000). Social capital, SES and health: An individual-level analysis . Social Science & Medicine, 50, 619-629.
48.
Washington, P.K., Burke, N.J., Joseph, G., Guerra, C., & Pasick, R.J. ( 2009). Adult daughters’ influence on mothers’ health-related decision making: An expansion of the subjective norms construct. Health Education & Behavior, 36(Suppl. 1), 129S-144S.
49.
Williams, F., Popay, J., & Oakley, A. ( 1999). Welfare research: A critical review. London: UCL Press.
