Analyzing the complex pathways of cultural capital influencing health from configurational perspective: evidence from China

TL;DR

This study explores how cultural capital affects health in China using a new method, finding that health outcomes depend on complex combinations of factors.

Contribution

The study introduces QCA to analyze nonlinear pathways of cultural capital's impact on health, revealing equifinal configurations.

Findings

Health outcomes depend on combinations of cultural capital, exercise, age, and marital status.

Embodied cultural capital is a stronger driver of health than institutionalized cultural capital in most configurations.

Socioeconomic and demographic factors can compensate for low cultural capital in some cases.

Abstract

Research on the health effects of cultural capital has emerged as a prominent topic in public health. Traditional regression modeling makes it difficult to deal with the complex and diverse relationships between cultural capital and health. In this study, we innovatively introduce the QCA method to reveal the nonlinear mechanisms and synergistic pathways through which individual cultural capital impacts health.

Using data from Chinese General Social Survey, fsQCA was conducted to identify necessary and sufficient conditions for health outcomes. Variables included institutionalized cultural capital (education), embodied cultural capital (cultural activities), income, exercise frequency, age, gender, marital.

None of the seven variables were necessary to produce a healthy outcome (consistency < 0.9). Nine configurations emerged as sufficient conditions (solution consistency = 0.882 > 0.8). Configurations were categorized into three types: coexistence (configuration 1), single existence (configuration 2–7), non-existence (configuration 8, 9). In coexistence type, high levels of institutionalized cultural capital and embodied cultural capital need to combine with low levels of age and marriage, and high levels of exercise to generate healthy outcome. In Single existence type embodied cultural capital assumes a critical role. In non-existence type, both cultural capital variables become irrelevant, and even the institutionalized cultural capital appears at low level.

Cultural capital influences health through multiple, equifinal pathways rather than in isolation. Embodied cultural capital is a more potent and consistent driver of good health than institutionalized cultural capital in many pathways. Socioeconomic and demographic factors interact with cultural capital, and can sometimes compensate for its lack.