Abstract The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of clinical and
socioeconomic factors on
social capital throughout
adolescence. A
cohort study was performed in 2012 (T1) with a random sample of 1,134 12-year-old
adolescents from Santa Maria,
Brazil. Questions on
socioeconomic factors (maternal
education,
household income,
household crowding) were answered by the
parents. Clinicians evaluated their
dental caries (decayed, missing, and filled status of permanent
teeth) and gingival
bleeding (using the
Community Periodontal Index). Contextual variables including the mean
income of the
neighborhood in which the
school was located were used (T1). The
adolescents were revaluated in 2018 (T2) and answered questions regarding
social capital (social
trust,
social control,
empowerment,
neighborhood security, and political
effectiveness). A path
analysis was used to test the relationship between the predictor variables (T1) and
social capital (T2). A total of 768
adolescents were reevaluated at a 6-year follow-up (cohort retention rate of 67.7%). Most of the
adolescents were
girls, with a low
household income, about 40% had caries experience (T1), and about 64% had high
social capital (T2). The highest
neighborhood's mean
income was related to a lower
household income in T1 (p < 0.01), and this was directly related to a low
social capital in T2 (p = 0.04). Furthermore, caries experience at T1 was directly associated with low
social capital at T2 (p = 0.03).
Socioeconomic factors were also related to caries experience. Individuals
who lived in
neighborhoods with greater inequality such as
families with a low
household income and those with untreated
dental caries in early
adolescence, had a low
social capital after follow-up.