[Relationship Between Social Integration, Global Self-Esteem, and Physical and Mental Health in a Representative German Sample]. / Zusammenhang von sozialer Teilhabe, globalem Selbstwert sowie physischer und psychischer Gesundheit in einer repräsentativen deutschen Stichprobe.

INTRODUCTION: Beyond participation as a civil right, social participation has already been considered from legal, ethical, socio-psychological and political perspectives as an important component of the self- and external evaluation of a person as a valuable member of a society. Thus, social psychological studies frequently showed the importance of the sense of belonging as a central psychological component of social participation for both personal and social self-esteem. From a medical-psychological perspective, the association of global self-esteem and self-efficacy with health is well established. However, it is an open question whether social participation is directly related to psychological and physical well-being or whether this relationship is mediated via global self-esteem. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Based on a nationwide representative survey in Germany (N=2.531; age 14-93, M=48.58; 55.4% women), the variables social participation (KsT-5), global self-esteem (SISE), and physical and mental health (EQ5D) were measured using standardized questionnaires to examine a potential mediation. RESULTS: As expected, significant positive correlations between social participation, global self-esteem and physical and mental health were found with medium ranged effect sizes. However, global self-esteem only partially mediated the association between social participation and health, i. e. a direct significant association between social participation and health could be proven. DISCUSSION: The results underline the direct relevance of social participation for physical and mental health. This opens a hitherto hardly used perspective for health promotion in interaction with socio-political challenges in the topics of integration, inclusion and the sense of belonging.

[Short Scale Measuring Perceived Social Participation: Factorial Structure, Internal Consistency, Content Validity, Convergent Validity and Standard Values in a Representative German Sample]. / Kurz-Skala zur Erfassung wahrgenommener sozialer Teilhabe (KsT-5): faktorielle Struktur, interne Konsistenz, inhaltliche und konvergente Validität sowie Normwerte in einer repräsentativen Stichprobe.

Social participation is politically as well as socially and psychologically relevant for the coexistence of people in our society and the well-being of the individual. In light of the German Federal Participation Act and the partial equalization of the terms "(Social) Participation" and "Inclusion", social participation in recent years has frequently been restricted to people with disabilities with regard to the "International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF)" of the World Health Organization and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The question of participation, however, affects all people and is not only dependent on the degree of functional capacity or disability, but also on social inclusion, financial possibilities, regional affiliation, education, self-esteem and is correlated with health. In the present study, a new short scale of 5 items (KsT-5) for measuring the aspects "belonging", "self-efficacy", "need for recognition", "self-esteem" and "integration in the social environment" was tested on a German representative general population sample (N=2531) with regard to their psychometric quality criteria. It showed a good fit with a one-factor solution, a satisfactory internal consistency of Cronbach's α=0,73 and McDonald's ω=0,73 as well as good convergent validity over positive correlations with self-esteem and psychological as well as physical health. This study provides norm values of the new KsT-5 stratified according to gender and age as a prerequisite for use in future studies.