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ObjectiveTo explore how three indicators of social capital (ie, group membership, social support and cognitive social capital and specific types within each type) are associated with infant birth weight.Study design and settingsCross-sectional analyses of the first wave of Young Lives Survey data collected in 2002 from India (Andhra Pradesh state), Peru and Vietnam.Participants807 mothers in India, 1528 mothers in Peru and 1706 mothers in Vietnam.Outcomes measureInfant birth weight was measured in grams. Participation in specific groups, receipt of social support from specific groups or individuals and perceptions of their community were measured for social capital indicators. Two-level random intercept linear regression models were fit separately by country (first level: individual and second level: community).ResultsMaternal group membership displayed a consistent positive association with infant birth weight across the three countries. There was no relationship with maternal cognitive social capital. Membership in a women’s group was associated with infant birth weight consistently in all three countries (b=119.6, 95% CI 21.7 to 217.4 in India, b=133.4, 95% CI 40.9 to 225.9 in Peru, b=60.6, 95% CI 0.5 to 120.6 in Vietnam). However, membership in a political group in Peru was inversely associated with infant birth weight (b=−276.1, 95% CI −465.7 to −86.5).ConclusionAlthough a higher level of social capital is associated with higher infant birth weight, specific types of social capital may have different associations with infant birth weight depending on the social, political or cultural specificity of the country. These results pave the way for additional research on the mechanisms through which social capital influences birth weight outcomes in each country.

Objectives: Several studies have reported the relationship between residents’ perceived neighbourhood safety and their health outcomes. However, those studies suffered from unreliability of neighbourhood safety measure and potential residual confounding related to crime rates. In this study, using multilevel analysis to account for the hierarchical structure of the data, we examined associations between district-level perceived safety and self-rated health after adjusting for potential confounders including the district-level crime rate. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: We used the first wave of Seoul Welfare Panel Study, which has 7761 individuals from 3665 households in 25 administrative districts in Seoul, South Korea. District-level perceived safety was obtained by aggregating responses from the residents that are representative samples for each administrative district in Seoul. To examine an association between district-level safety and residents’ self-rated health, we used mixed effect logistic regression. Results: Our results showed that higher district-level perceived safety, an aggregated measure of district residents’ responses towards neighbourhood safety, was significantly associated with poor self-rated health after controlling for sex, age, education level, job status, marital status and household income (OR=0.87, 95% CI 0.78 to 0.97). Furthermore, this association was still robust when we additionally adjusted for the district-level crime rate (OR=0.86, 95% CI 0.77 to 0.95). Conclusions: Our study highlights the importance of improving neighbourhood perceived safety to enhance residents’ health.