Community belonging and self-perceived health
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by Margot Shields
Findings
Over the past 25 years, research has established a causal association between social relationships and health.1,2 People who are socially isolated and have few ties to other individuals are more likely to suffer from poor physical and mental health and to die prematurely. [Full text]
The data
Estimates are based on data from the 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS), cycle 3.1. The CCHS covers the household population aged 12 or older in all provinces and territories, except members of the regular Forces and residents of institutions, Indian reserves, Canadian Forces bases, and some remote areas. Data for cycle 3.1 were collected from January to December 2005 from a sample of 132,947 persons. The response rate was 79%. Approximately 3% of this sample were excluded from this analysis because of non-response to the question on community belonging. All estimates were weighted to be representative of the household population aged 12 or older in 2005. Differences between estimates were tested to ensure statistical significance, which was established at the 0.05 level. To account for survey design effects, standard errors and coefficients of variation were estimated using the bootstrap technique. [Full text]
Author credit
Margot Shields (613-951-4177; Margot.Shields@statcan.gc.ca) is with the Health Information and Research Division at Statistics Canada.
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