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Table 2 Measurements and descriptive statistics for the variables analyzed

From: Social cohesion matters in health

Dimensions

Indicators

Questions and items

Operation definition

Mean

Min, max

Percentage

Data source

Country-level (N = 29)

      

Social and political attitudes

       

Liberty aspiration

If you had to choose, which one would you say is most important? And which would be the next important?

Respondents’ priorities were “giving people more say in important government decisions” and “protecting freedom of speech”. Assigning 3 points for both items on first and second rank, 2 points for one of these items on first rank, 1 point for one of these items on second rank, and 0 for none of these items on first or second rank. The mean of the aggregate score was computed.

1.34

0.71, 1.92

---

WVS/EVS

1. Maintaining order in the nation

2. Giving people more say in important government decisions

3. Fighting rising prices

4. Protecting freedom of speech

Democratic attitude

Could you please tell me if you agree with the following items at a 4-point scale?

The index was created by adding up the four items. The higher the value, the more-positive attitude toward democracy. The direction of item 1, 2, and 3 were reversed. Mean of the sum of scores of these four items was computed.

11.49

9.82, 12.71

---

WVS/EVS

1. In democracy, the economic system runs badly

2. Democracies are indecisive and have too much quibbling

3. Democracies aren’t good at maintaining order

4. Democracy may have problems but it’s better than any other form of government

Value diversity

Please tell me whether you think it can always be justified, never be justified or something in between along a 10-point scale.

The sum of the standard deviation of each statement was calculated

14.21

11.92, 16.69

---

WVS/EVS

1. Homosexuality

2. Abortion

3. Divorce

4. Euthanasia

 

5. Suicide

Social exclusion

Ethnic tolerance

Could you please sort out any that you would not like to have as neighbors?

The percentage of not mentioning immigrants

79.04

6.21, 97.40

---

WVS/EVS

Immigrant percentage

 

The percentage of immigrants by total population

10.37

1.30, 39.40

---

OECD, ADB

Equal opportunities

Gender employment ratio

 

Female to male employment ratio

0.76

0.56, 0.94

---

OECD, ADB

Gender wage gap

 

The difference between male and female earnings expressed as a percentage of male earnings

18.47

7.10, 40.40

---

OECD, ADB

Social expenditure

 

Percentage of GDP

19.96

5.26, 30.10

---

OECD, ADB

Health expenditure

 

Percentage of GDP

7.48

4.89, 13.00

---

OECD, ADB

Physician density

 

Number of physicians per 1,000 people

2.71

1.16, 4.23

---

OECD, ADB

Education expenditure

 

Percentage of GDP

5.23

2.80, 8.10

---

WDI, ADB

Government responsibility

How would you place your views on this scale?

The percentage of people who placed their view as ≤ 5 was determined

56.52

13.92, 79.25

---

WVS/EVS

The government should take more responsibility to ensure that everyone is provided for versus people should take the responsibility to provide for themselves.

The responses exhibited a range from 1–10, with 1 being “government should take more responsibility” and 10 being “people should take more responsibility”.

Regional disparity

Gini index × 100

 

Gini coefficients of family income

31.67

22.50, 52.50

---

WDI, ADB

Availability of social relations

Association membership

 

Percentage of people who had joined at least one among a list of 15 voluntary organizations

60.04

14.37, 95.66

---

WVS/EVS

Quality of social relations

Social trust

Generally speaking, would you say that most people can be trusted or that you need to be very careful in dealing with people?

Percentage of people reporting 1

36.73

12.30, 66.53

 

WVS/EVS

1. Most people can be trusted

2. Need to be very careful

Quality of social institutions

Trust in civil service

How much confidence you have in the civil service? A great deal, quite a lot, not very much, or none at all

Percentage of “a great deal” and “quite a lot”

44.42

14.34, 66.58

---

WVS/EVS

Individual-level (N = 47,923)

      
 

Self-rated health (good health)

 

Fair and bad health (reference) vs. good and very good health

---

---

68.43

WVS, EVS

 

Gender (men)

 

Women (reference) vs. men

---

---

46.97

WVS, EVS

 

Age

 

Age in years

45.96

14, 110

---

WVS, EVS

 

Educational level

 

Primary education (reference)

---

---

27.71

WVS, EVS

Upper secondary education

52.06

Tertiary education

  

20.23

 

Income

 

Lower tertile (reference)

---

---

26.19

WVS, EVS

Middle tertile

35.54

   

Upper tertile

  

38.27

 
  1. ADB, Asian Development Bank; EVS, European Value Survey; OECD, Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development; WDI, World Development Indicators; WVS, World Value Survey.