فهرست نشریات علمی دسترسی آزاد ایران

Background: Mental health, on one hand, plays an important role in providing the social, cultural, and economic development grounds; and nation's on the other hand, various biological, psychological, and social factors influence its realization. Accordingly, identification of these effective factors can help improve the mental health of people. In this regard, the present study examined the relation between social capital and mental health of students.   Methods: The research was a cross-sectional survey. The sample was 239 students who were selected by stratified random sampling. Mental health data were collected through Goldberg's 28-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and social capital data were collected through a researcher-made questionnaire. To analyze the data, the Pearson correlation coefficient was used in SPSS 14.   Results: There was a significant relation between social capital (p <0.001) and its components including social trust (p <0.001), social network (P=0.001), and norms of cooperation (P=0.018) with the mental health of students, but the socio-economic status (P=0.462) and students' age (P=0.202) had no significant relation with their mental health. Also, social capital was associated with symptoms of social function (p <0.001) and depression (p <0.001), of mental health dimensions.   Conclusion: Considering the effective role of social capital in promoting the mental health of students, universities can play an important role in enhancing students’ social capital via supporting group activities.