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This paper presents the results of a survey conducted among people walking the pilgrimage route to the shrine of St James in Santiago de Compostela. The aim of the research was to investigate how a pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago among a married couple or family affects marital or familial relationships, whether walking the trail to Compostela together influences the behaviour of family members towards each other and whether it forms positive attitudes and behaviour. The empirical basis of the study is the results of a survey among respondents who made the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage, as well as in-depth interviews conducted with 24 spouses of pilgrims along the Way of St James. The study revealed that doing the pilgrimage as a married couple or family had a positive impact on intra-family relationships. According to the interviewees, going on the pilgrimage together helped to strengthen marital bonds and trust, improve communication and mutual connection, show care and affection and improve contact with children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to investigate the association between structural and cognitive aspects of social capital and self-rated health among adults aged 50 or more, living in three countries: Finland, Poland and Spain. The study, which was based on data from the European Social Survey (2008/09), was a part of the EU research project COURAGE in Europe. More specifically the paper assesses the association between social capital indicators – informal social network and general trust – and good self-rated health through single-level and joint effects analyses. The results showed that Finland was a country of high social capital, in terms of both social networks and general trust, while Spain showed low levels of general trust and Poland low levels of informal social networks. As to the association between social capital and self-rated health, high levels of general trust and high networks were found to be associated with good health among all countries' respondents. Older persons living in partnerships, with higher education, higher levels of engagement in informal networks and general trust, were found to be more likely to show good self-rated health. Our comparative analyses revealed different associations between social capital and health according to country. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]