The Effect of Social Capital on the Mental Health of the University Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic With the Mediation of the Resilience Variable

Abstract

Background: This research was conducted to evaluate the effect of social capital on the student’s mental health with the mediation of resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods: The research is based on the objective criterion in the applied research group and the data collection method criterion in the survey research group. The statistical population includes the students of the state universities of Tehran and Islamic Azad University Science and Research Branch. The sample size was estimated to be 427 people using SPSS SamplePower software. The share of each university was determined by proportional stratified sampling, and then the samples from each stratum were selected by a simple random method. SPSS and AMOS software was used to analyze the data. Results: To investigate the hypotheses, we used the 1-sample t-test, the Pearson correlation, multiple regression analysis, and the structural equation model. According to research, social capital has a significant effect on the resilience and mental health of students, considering that the indirect effect of social capital (through resilience) on mental health has also become significant; therefore resilience variable has a mediating role between social capital and mental health variables. The age variable has a positive and significant relationship with all three variables of social capital, resilience, and mental health, so the variables above increase with age. Conclusion: Considering the importance of social capital, society members can improve their resilience by developing communication networks and being aware of critical conditions to suffer the least psychological and social damage in this pandemic.

The Mediating Effect of Psychological Resilience between Individual Social Capital and Mental Health in the Post-Pandemic Era: A Cross-Sectional Survey over 300 Family Caregivers of Kindergarten Children in Mainland China

“…Several empirical studies have supported the mediation role of psychological resilience between social capital and mental health (Adelinejad et al 2022;Gao et al 2018;Khaksar et al 2019). A study conducted by Gao et al (2018) in China revealed that persons with a greater degree of social capital, as measured among those living with HIV/AIDS, tend to have stronger psychological resilience, leading to improved mental health outcomes.…”

“…A study conducted by Gao et al (2018) in China revealed that persons with a greater degree of social capital, as measured among those living with HIV/AIDS, tend to have stronger psychological resilience, leading to improved mental health outcomes. Similarly, Adelinejad et al (2022) revealed that social capital significantly influences university students' psychological resilience and mental health. Additionally, Khaksar et al (2019) demonstrated that social capital plays a vital role in diminishing job burnout among employees in stressful settings, with psychological resilience acting as a facilitating role.…”

“…The impact of social capital on the mental well-being of university students has also garnered considerable attention (Gao et al 2018). Adelinejad et al (2022) conducted a study on university students and examined the impact of social capital on students' mental well-being among the COVID-19 pandemic. They specifically explored how resilience acts as a mediator in this relationship.…”

“…The findings of the study revealed that social capital had a substantial influence on both psychological resilience and mental health outcomes. The results showed that psychological resilience partially mediated the relationship between social capital and mental health (Adelinejad et al 2022). Based on the theoretical framework proposed by Adelinejad et al (2022), which explores the mediating role of resilience between social capital and mental health, a research framework was developed for this study (Figure 1).…”

“…Research suggests that social capital and psychological resilience have been identified as positive factors influencing the mental health of family caregivers in the Chinese context (Dai and Gu 2021;Su et al 2021). Furthermore, in exploring the connection between social capital, psychological resilience, and mental health, numerous empirical researches support the argument that psychological resilience plays a mediating role between social capital and mental health (Adelinejad et al 2022;Gao et al 2018).…”