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Levels of trust within the local community and connections to people of influence are among the factors that affect the health and well-being of residents in Adelaide's suburbs, according to a new study headed by Professor Fran Baum of Flinders University's Department of Public Health.
People and Places: Urban Location, Social Capital and Health draws on data from a survey of the four Adelaide postcode areas of Burnside, Onkaparinga, Playford and Prospect, collected using a mix of questionnaires and face-to-face interviews with residents.
The study also assessed the social and physical environment using local government data on residential rates, income support, housing stress, health/social services, sports-grounds and playgrounds, pawnbrokers and banks, as well as information relating to crime rates, public transport and the cost of food, and applied these measures against the respondents' health status.
"We already know that inequities between individual households have effects in terms of health and well-being - what this study shows is that the wider environment also plays a role," Professor Baum said.
Both positive and negative effects on health can stem from the areas in which people live, she said.
In addition to the conspicuous advantages conferred by a pleasant environment and superior facilities, Professor Baum said the study found that living in a prosperous suburb such as Burnside provided a range of other resources that stem from so-called social capital.
"If you live among people who are connected to people of influence, you are, for instance, more likely to get advantages from that in terms of jobs or knowing who to go to for legal or medical advice," she said.
"People in the more affluent areas were not only financially better off but were also healthier because they have more resources that create health such as support from friends and relatives, doing more exercise, feeling safer and more supported in their community and having more education.
"What we have shown is that people who live in disadvantaged areas experience a kind of 'double-whammy': if there is a disadvantage in the physical infrastructure and also in the social infrastructure of the area they live in, then their own households have access to less resources those people in better-off areas of the city."
Researcher Dr Anna Ziersch said that environmental effects are usually outside an individual's control.
"The area in which a person lives has an impact over and above what an individual does with their life," she said.
Professor Baum said it was fair to say that class differences are alive and well in Adelaide.
"People realise that Adelaide is a divided city, but when you systematically go through the ways in which a suburb like Burnside differs from areas such as Playford or Onkaparinga, the differences are quite stark.
"Our concern is that the indicators are showing the division is widening, and it is becoming harder for people to get a fair go.
"It's harder to be healthy in Playford than Burnside, even if you are well intentioned."
Despite intrinsic socio-economic inequality, governments, community groups and individuals can all take positive steps, Professor Baum said.
She said the Onkaparinga postcode, which comprises the suburbs of Moana and Seaford, does surprisingly well for a low-income area in terms of community cohesiveness and trust.
Professor Baum said that in the late 1980s and early 1999s the government had worked with private developers in the area to create facilities such as a community health centre and library, and employed a community development worker.
"Our study suggests this preventative planning on the part of the policy makers is an example of an investment that has paid off after 15 years," she said.
"The message for governments is that if they want to improve health, it's not just a matter of looking at individuals but at the environments they live in, in terms of educational and employment opportunities and social facilities - it's the whole package."
The report was launched on March 15 by Adelaide's current thinker-in-residence, public health expert Professor Ilona Kickbusch.
Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.
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