Validity and reliability of an adapted social capital scale among Indian adults

Social capital has been shown to influence physical and mental health. For accurate measurement of social capital for research and practice, a culturally-appropriate and validated social capital scale is needed for Indian population. This study assessed the dimensionality (nature and number of dimensions) and reliability of a social capital scale adapted from the Global Social Capital Survey (GSCS) questionnaire. We conducted a cross-sectional survey among 1563 people recruited using cluster sampling of representative households in Chandigarh, India. The eight dimensions of the original GSCS were: group characteristics; generalized norms; togetherness; everyday sociability; neighborhood connections; trust and volunteerism. Internal consistency (reliability) of the scale was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha. Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses (EFA and CFA) were conducted on two randomly divided subsamples using IBM SPSS. Participants’ mean age was 40.1 (SD = 15.6); about half were women (49.3%), and 41% had a college degree. Majority of the participants (83.8%) were living in an urban area. EFA extracted seven dimensions that explained 59.9% of the total variance. In CFA, we tested the six-factor model (retaining all original dimensions except volunteerism) with one second-order factor. The final 22-item Social Capital Scale (SCS) had high reliability and acceptable construct validity. The adapted GSCS questionnaire has adequate psychometric properties and can be used to measure the effectiveness of health promotion interventions on improving social capital. For further refinement, this scale needs to be tested among subgroups that are diverse, for example, in terms of age and socioeconomic status