The measurement of bridging social capital in population health research

Social capital is defined as the resources available to individuals and groups through membership in social networks. The definition is consistent with either an individualistic approach or a collective approach. Social capital can be further classified according to bonding versus bridging social capital (e.g. relationships between individuals who are homogeneous or heterogeneous with respect to social class, race/ethnicity, or other attributes). We conducted a systematic review via Pubmed, the ISI web of knowledge and OVID of the studies that examined bridging social capital in public health settings. Our results indicate lack of consistency or uniformity in the operationalization of bridging social capital. We identify some promising approaches to measurement that should be further investigated in future studies.