The number of convenience stores in Japan has increased dramatically since their introduction in the 1970s, offering a wide range of essential services. However, epidemiological research on their use and public health impacts remains limited. This study aimed to explore the characteristics of frequent convenience store users and the association between daily use and social capital, measured as general trust in one’s neighbors and trust in mutual help/reciprocity among them. This was a secondary analysis of the 2025 Japan Society and New Tobacco Internet Survey (JASTIS 2025)—a cross-sectional, web-based survey. The total number of respondents included in the analyses was 21 282. Convenience stores were used more frequently than supermarkets, with 8.1% reporting daily use, compared with 5.2% for supermarkets. Daily users were more likely to be men, younger, unmarried, living alone, and to have higher but unstable income and multiple health comorbidities. Among teenagers and young adults, daily convenience store use was significantly associated with higher social capital (aOR 2.18 95% CI 1.14-4.15 for general social trust; aOR 1.88 95% CI 1.02-3.44 for mutual help/reciprocity), while no such association was observed for supermarket use. Among teenagers and young adults, daily convenience store use was associated with higher social capital, while no such association was observed in older age groups or for supermarket use. These findings suggest that convenience stores may serve different social functions across age groups and warrant further investigation into underlying mechanisms.
Goto et al. (Sun,) studied this question.