Pandemic effects on social capital and loneliness in residents and non-residents of Chinese immigrant enclaves in Philadelphia

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly affected cancer prevention behaviors and cancer care. Social capital is also thought to affect cancer prevention and care, with some observed improvements in well being and survival among cancer patients. Residents of immigrant enclaves are thought to have more social capital than non-residents, potentially buffering against negative effects of the pandemic. We compared residents and non-residents of Chinese immigrant enclaves in Philadelphia with respect to their social capital and loneliness and change in these factors from before to during the pandemic. Participants were 520 Chinese immigrant men and women aged 3565 y. Baseline interviews conducted 9/18-01/20 included questions on residence and demographics, structural and cognitive social capital (short version of the Adapted Social Capital Assessment Tool (SASCAT)), and a validated 3-item loneliness scale. The SASCAT includes questions on membership in neighborhood groups, receiving support from specific individuals (e.g., family, neighbors, friends), and cognitive social capital representing perceived levels of trust and belonging in the neighborhood. In May-July 2020, 419 participants completed a follow-up interview that included the SASCAT and loneliness scales. Participants were categorized as residing in a traditional, emerging, or non-enclave neighborhood depending on the ethnic density of their census tract and adjacent tracts. At baseline there were no significant differences in social capital or loneliness across neighborhood types. During the pandemic, participants regardless of neighborhood type reported declines in group membership (18% baseline vs. 11% pandemic) and loneliness (25% vs. 12%), and increases in cognitive social capital (85% vs. 99%) and receiving support from individuals (35% vs. 69%) (all p<0.001). However, extent of change differed by neighborhood, resulting in significantly less loneliness among residents of traditional enclaves (5%) than in emerging (14%) and non-enclave (16%) residents (p=0.02) during the pandemic. Multivariate analyses using generalized estimating equation models indicated that residents of traditional enclaves experienced a larger decrease in loneliness than other participants (interaction p=0.009), and that residents of traditional and emerging enclaves experienced a larger increase in cognitive social capital than residents of non-enclaves (interaction p=0.03). Our findings provide evidence that while the pandemic may have effected declines in group membership in this sample of Chinese immigrants, it was associated with increases in other forms of social capital and with a decrease in loneliness, particularly among enclave residents. These findings suggest the importance of clarifying how social capital derived from interacting within an immigrant enclave might be leveraged to counter the effects of a community stressor such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and used towards positive cancer outcomes in these communities.