Potential social capital and psychological distress for intermarried persons

Abstract

Based on Bourdieu's social capital theory, two studies were conducted to investigate potential social capital and psychological distress for intermarried persons. Study 1 investigated potential social capital for intermarried persons. Study 2 examined the association between potential social capital and psychological distress. The two studies utilized the same data - the 2001 IHIS - including 11,483 intramarried persons and 1,392 intermarried persons. Generalized linear models were used for analyses. Study 1 found that interracial married persons were likely to have less potential social capital than intramarried persons. Study 2 found that the association between potential social capital and psychological distress was stronger for interracial married persons and intermarried persons with non-White spouse than for intramarried persons. The association was weaker for intermarried persons with White spouse than for intramarried persons. The study findings partially supported the previous literature raising a concern about a lack of potential social capital and consequent psychological distress for intermarried persons. The results supported the context-dependent nature of social capital posited by Bourdieu (1986).