Sociation Today

Sociation Today
®

ISSN 1542-6300


The Official Journal of the
North Carolina Sociological Association


A Peer-Reviewed
Refereed Web-Based 
Publication


  Fall/Winter 2016
Volume 14, Issue 2



The Relationship Between Social Capital
and the Quality of Life: A Case Study from Iran

by

Jahangir Jahangiri
Shiraz University

Saeed Moghadas
Tehran University

and

Sadegh Panahinasab
Tarbiat Modarres University

Introduction and Research Problem

    Discussion of quality of life goes back to Aristotle. He addressed human happiness, and that what happiness is. Aristotle considered good life equivalent to happiness, yet distinguished the difference of this concept among different individuals. Academic approach to quality of life in 1920 entered a new phase, namely when Pigu addressed this issue in his book Economy and Welfare. And after that, the concept became the interest of other scientists in humanities fields, and an interdisciplinary subject. In this regard, several interpretations and definitions were proposed on the meaning of quality of  life. Sel and Taleski evaluated quality of life and considered individual satisfaction of his existing performance level, compared to what he considers as ideal or possible (Salamati, 2009). The World Health Organization has defined quality of life as the individual's understanding of his/her position in life in the cultural context and value system in which he/she lives, and of his/her goals, expectations and standards. So the concept of the quality of life  is quite individual and cannot be observed by others and is based on individuals' understanding of various aspects of their lives (Bonomi et al., 2000). This means that is based on each person's view according to his/her age, gender, culture, education and social environment (King and Hinds, 2003). Quality of life today is the concern of all governments and most international organizations and there is a general consensus among researchers and policy makers.

    The concept of quality of life is a new concept in social research. In mid-twentieth century, with economic, social and cultural development and scientific and technological progress, humans gradually demanded higher welfare and higher quality of life. For this reason, quality of life has been of great interest in twentieth century (Pasandideh, 2007). Therefore, this issue has been considered with other social indices such as social capital and its components. In general it can be said that quality of life is affected by time, place, social and personal values that could be examined in personal, subjective and objective aspects. 

    In 1960s, when sociologists reacted against the dominance of economic indices, the concept of quality of life became important in social studies, but until then, all indices of quality of life were objective.  Subjective indices for measuring quality of life were added in 1970s. Campbell et al. for the first time in 1976 considered mental and psychological indices of quality of life (Campbell et al., 1976). On one hand, regarding issues such as decrease of cooperation and integration between people, increase of self-oriented or negative individualism, globalization and rising people expectations and etc. quality of life, especially from its subjective aspect, has been highly regarded again in recent years. On the other hand, the concept of social capital in the last two and three decades has become very common and popular as a set of social resources and reserves (such as social trust, the feeling of empathy and cooperation between people, dedication...) that can enhance an individual's social relations.

    Putnam considers social capital as a set of concepts such as trust, norms and networks that causes creating optimized communication and participation of members of a community will provide their mutual benefits. In his opinion, mutual trust and communication of the members in the network is as a source that exists in community members' interactions (Putnam, 2001: 225). According to Putnam, groups and communities that are governed by the norms and follow them can overcome group work more efficiently. About the relationship between social capital and quality of life, it can be said that the elements of social capital by enhancing communication and access to resources can result in desirable outcomes, such as wealth, power, fame, physical health, mental health and life satisfaction. These factors also have a direct and positive effect on other related levels of quality of life. All proposed assumptions and definitions based on social capital index in the individual aspect are related to the quality and value of relationships between individuals and in the social aspect is the quality and value of relationships between groups, organizations and institutions.

    The quality of relationships is an important index for quality of life that apart from the individual aspect can be proposed in different environments and sets including community, neighborhood, work environment, education environment, family and other social institutions and organizations. So identifying the relationship between social capital and quality of life can provide an important part of required information on effective components on welfare for social welfare policy making in the community. Quality of life and its influencing factors are very important, because it can be achieved by creating the context for these factors, one of the most important of which is social capital. Many studies show that there is a relationship between quality of life and social capital (Ghaffari and Onagh, 2006). There is some research on these issues  in Iran, but none of them address students as a learned, literate and stressful group.  The present study will examine the relationship between social capital and quality of life of students in Tehran and Shiraz Universities and generally seeks to answer these questions: Is there a relationship between social capital and students' quality of life? Is there a relationship between the main aspects of social capital and students' quality of life?


Literature Review

    About social capital and quality of life we can say that our sense of well-being should be related to ties we have with family, friends, colleagues, neighbors, neighborhood and macro-social system. Also many studies show that there is a relationship between quality of life and variables such as stress, social capital, self-esteem, ethnicity, social support, etc. (Asadi Sadeghi Azar et al., 2006; Pasandideh, 2007; Ghaffari and Onagh, 2006; Garusi and Taghavi, 2008; Noghani et al., 2009; Zokaei and Roshanfekr, 2006; Ghasemizadeh et al., 2010). Kim and Kawachi in a study in different States of America concluded that in states with high or middle level of social capital citizens have higher levels of physical and mental health, also income and social class play an important role in determining the level of social capital and quality of life (Kim & Kawachi, 2007). Many other studies show that there is a relationship between quality of life and some aspects of social capital such as social participation, social network, social relations, social trust and social norms (Farquhar, 1995; Duncan-Myers and Huebner, 2000; Khoshfar et al., 2014, Black, Boshitsu and Gahabashi, 2005 quoted from Noghani et al., 2009: 23). Nilson et al. in a study examined the relationship between social capital and quality of life of the elderly in Bangladesh villages concluded that old age, poor economic base of family and low levels of social capital are of the determinants of individuals' quality of life (Nilson et al., 2006).

    Other studies have investigated the relationship between poverty and social capital; the results indicate a strong negative correlation between poverty and social capital.  In other words, the individuals' and groups' level of social capital are affected by poverty and deprivation, moreover, the two indices of lack of participation in decision-making as well as violence and strife play a highlighted role in incidence of poverty and development (Morris, 1988, Shaditalab and Hodjati Kermani, 2008; Zahedi et al., 2008). A study by Lochner et al. was conducted in Chicago to study ecological relationship between social capital and mortality rates in neighbors. Social capital was measured as a potentially effective component on health and the results indicated that there is a statistically negative and significant relationship between social capital and mortality (Quoted from Riahi, 2008). Nikbakht Nasrabadi et al. (2008) found that there is a negative correlation between general concern of students and their quality of life. This means that as anxiety increases, the quality of life decreases. Roslan et al. also addressed the relationship between social capital and quality of life and concluded that these variables are related to each other and have a positive effect on each other (Roslan et al., 2010). Social capital is considered as a solution for different social problems such as poverty, crime, lagged economy and low efficient government (Tavakoli et al., 2008: 145). 

    Social capital is one of proposed factors that can explain why development efficiency is different in all governments and communities. For example, Putnam et al. (1993) argue that different results of development in various regions of Italy depend mainly on difference in the level of social capital of the regions. There are also a number of studies that have been done at the micro level and examined the relationship between social capital and household income. For example, Groutart's study on social capital and its relationship to family welfare and urban poverty in a variety of organizations and associations shows that social capital can have a positive effect on family welfare and livelihood (Quoted from Mousavi et al., 2012: 3). These studies show that social capital plays an important role in enhancing quality of life that is an important objective of development. So the indices of quality of life such as increased income and poverty reduction are to achieve development and ultimately a desirable life.
 
     In conclusion it can be concluded that shows that if social capital enhances, therefore the quality of life will improve. Although many studies have been carried out in this field, just a few have addressed the relationship between social capital and quality of life among students. Although in some of these studies the aspects of quality of life are referred, but none of them has analyzed these aspects so the present study has addressed this issue accurately and completely considering the imperfections.

Theoretical Framework

    According to Mills (1978), quality of life is usually described as satisfaction and well-being subjective assessment or a series of social and economic outputs reached by individuals or groups. Also some believe that quality of life can be examined like an objective or subjective concept. In this approach, quality of life focuses not only on social and economic outputs, but also on policies' achievements and their effect on people. When a person's quality of life is considered in community level, the concept is linked to existing social and environmental conditions such as economic activity, climate conditions and cultural institutions (Murray and Frenk 2000). One of the key variables that raise life level and thus improve quality of life is social capital. Social capital refers to capitals such as social trust, norms and networks (Putnam, 2001). Bourdieu considers social capital as a form of "capital". In his opinion, capital has three basic forms: "economic" which can become the currency and in the form of property rights can be institutionalized; "cultural" which under some conditions becomes economic capital and is institutionalized in the form of qualities of education; and "social" which is made of social commitments and under certain conditions can be transformed into economic capital or may be institutionalized in the form of an aristocratic title (Bourdieu, 1986: 243). According to Bourdieu, social capital in social relations is tasks and rules or emerged relationships between individuals and an individual asset through getting access to network resources.

    Based on Lin's theory, the elements of social capital by enhancing and improving relationships and increasing the level of access to resources can result in wealth, power, fame, physical health, mental health and life satisfaction. And these are considered as the elements of quality of life. The quality of relationships in itself is an important index of quality of life that apart from individual level can be proposed in different sets including community, neighborhood, work environment, education environment, family and other social institutions and organizations (Lin, 1999). Lin discovered three layers of social constraints as concentric circles: bonding, bridging and linking. He claims that these layers define different intensities of relationships for an individual. Each person in bonding relationships spends his/her time and effort on family and close friends. In bridging relationships the individual has support of larger groups of relatives and neighbors and in linking relationships the individual has benefits of membership in voluntary institutions and groups (Lin et al., 2001). Fukuyama considers social capital in accordance with economic growth and development of countries, therefore his definition of social capital is a collective one. According to him, social capital can be simply defined as a certain set of informal norms or values of a group. Norms that generate social capital basically should have benefits such as honesty, commitment and mutual relationship (Fukuyama, 2000: 12). Kaplan and Lynch introduced social capital as the accumulation of capital and networks that create social integration, social commitment and thus a kind of self-esteem and satisfaction (Kaplan and Lynch, 2000). Putnam et al. (1993) considered social capital as components such as networks, norms and trust. Groutart emphasized social networks and ties that increase individuals' access to economic and social resources.
 
    Therefore, in this study, regarding theoretical discussions it can be said that if there is social capital, students increase their abilities in the form of norms and social ties that arise during social interactions and while gaining control of their lives, they have social supports which have been created in their communicative networks. In other words, social capital that exists among students can formally or informally decrease pressures of life by increasing social supports in the form of networks and provide them with a kind of life satisfaction and thus improve their quality of life. Figure 1 shows the relationship between independent variables and dependent variable in the form of research theoretical model.



Figure 1


Methods

    As explained below, this study was done using questionaiares.  As mentioned by Zhang et al. by virtue of self – report method the respondents have private time and atmosphere to remind their past (Zhang et al., 2000). In this study  the quality of life in Shiraz and Tehran was defined as the  dependent variable and social capital as independent variable. The sample included 546 students. The sampling method was multiphase random.  Data analysis was done through SPSS. 

 Research Findings

    Table 1 shows individuals' relative distribution according to some general characteristics of the sample. As can be seen, respondents' mean age was equal to 23.29 years and their education years' mean was equal to 16.8 classes.


Table 1: Relative Distribution of respondents according to

demographic, economic and social variable

 

variable

Mean

No.

age

23.29

532

gender

female

male

39.3

60.7

215

331

education

16.8

528

marital status

married

single

divorced

20.9

78.5

0.6

112

420

3

social class

low

middle

high

14.1

73.2

12.7

77

400

69

income

Below 1 million*

1 million**

Above 1 million***

60

29.9

10.1

328

163

55

*Less than $286; **Betrween $286-571; More than $571

    60.7% of respondents are male and 39.3% are female. 78.5% of them are single, 20.9% are married and 0.6% of them are divorced. 73.2 percent of respondents have announced their social class as average, 12.7 percent as high and 14.1 percent as very high. 60% of respondents have mentioned their family income less than one million tomans, 29.9 percent between 1 and 2 million tomans and 10.1 percent more than two million tomans.

    To test research hypotheses' two techniques of correlation coefficient and means comparison were used. Table 2 shows Pearson correlation coefficient between interval independent variables and quality of life aspects. Obtained results indicate that there is a relationship at least at 95% level between independent variables and quality of life and its aspects. Meanwhile, the relationship of informal charity participation variable was not significant in the four aspects of quality of life.

Table 2: The correlation between independent variables and quality of life aspect

 

Correlation

Mean

SD

Correlation coefficient

significance

Quality of life

Public trust

Institutional trust

Formal cooperative participation

Informal Charity participation

Informal participation awareness

Awareness

Income

Age

Education

Social capital

12.73

28.22

0.91

2.6

2.81

1.48

1.5

23.29

16.8

51.33

3.4

7.8

1.4

1.4

1.9

1.4

0.67

3.7

1.7

10.09

0.475

-0.40

0.164

0.253

0.231

0.199

0.249

0.237

0.10

0.22

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.021

0.001

Physical health

Public trust

Institutional trust

Formal cooperative participation

Informal Charity participation

Informal participation awareness

Awareness

Income

Age

Education

Social capital

12.73

28.22

0.91

2.6

2.81

1.48

1.5

23.29

16.8

51.33

3.4

7.8

1.4

1.4

1.9

1.4

0.67

3.7

1.7

10.09

0.394

-0.395

0.150

0.163

0.189

0.157

0.179

0.305

0.092

0.094

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.030

0.035

Quality of life environment

Public trust

Institutional trust

Formal cooperative participation

Informal Charity participation

Informal participation awareness

Awareness

Income

Age

Education

Social capital

12.73

28.22

0.91

2.6

2.81

1.48

23.29

1.5

16.8

51.33

3.4

7.8

1.4

1.4

1.9

1.4

0.67

3.7

1.7

10.09

0.430

-0.332

0.115

0.264

0.193

0.223

0.217

0.368

0.090

0.109

0.000

0.000

0.007

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.040

0.015

Social relations

Public trust

Institutional trust

Formal cooperative participation

Informal Charity participation

Informal participation awareness

Awareness

Income

Age

Education

Social capital

12.73

28.22

0.91

2.6

2.81

1.48

1.5

23.29

16.8

51.33

3.4

7.8

1.4

1.4

1.9

1.4

0.67

3.7

1.7

10.09

0.437

-0.302

0.232

0.246

0.258

0.175

0.329

0.238

0.129

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.004

Mental well- being

Public trust

Institutional trust

Formal cooperative participation

Informal Charity participation

Informal participation awareness

Awareness

Income

Age

Education

Social capital

12.73

28.22

0.91

2.6

2.81

1.48

1.5

23.29

16.8

51.33

3.4

7.8

1.4

1.4

1.9

1.4

0.67

3.7

1.7

10.09

0.461

-0.389

0.141

0.250

0.229

0.153

0.373

0.248

0.117

0.118

0.000

0.000

0.001

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.046



 

Table (3) shows mean difference of quality of life according to nominal variables (gender, marital status and social class).

Variable

Frequency

Mean

SD

F

Sig.

Quality of life

Marital status

single

married

divorced

420

112

3

73.99

80.58

72.00

15.86

19.83

000

5.35

0.005

Social class

low

middle

high

77

400

69

50.84

78.79

82.13

21.16

14.87

18.36

101.19

0.000

Physical health

Marital status

single

married

divorced

417

111

3

23.96

25.91

26

5.26

5.69

00

5.439

0.005

Social class

low

middle

high

77

395

69

18.55

25.10

26.59

5.94

4.63

6.51

60.47

0.000

gender

male

female

328

213

23.80

25.22

5.04

6.36

9.58

0.002

Quality of life environment

Marital status

single

married

divorced

416

112

3

23.23

25.09

21

7.16

5.60

00

3.48

0.031

Social class

low

middle

high

77

395

69

15.16

24.86

25.62

7.92

5.40

6.46

89.99

0.000

Social relations

Marital status

single

married

divorced

417

112

3

9.86

8.68

7

3.13

2.31

00

7.52

0.001

Social class

low

middle

high

77

396

69

5.55

9.38

9.84

2.94

2.61

2.87

69.91

0.000

Mental welfare

Marital status

single

married

divorced

418

112

3        

17.96

19.71

18

5.04

5.86

00

4.159

0.016

Social class

low

middle

high

77

397

69

11.55

19.35

20.07

6

4.80

4.89

83.08

0.000


     Existing statistics for social class also show that average score of quality of life for high class individuals is 82.13, for middle class is 78.99 and for lower class is 50.84. In other words, students who have high class identity have higher quality of life than middle and low class students. This score in each category is significant based on F test with the amount of 101.19 at 99%. Also, no significant difference was observed in quality of life based on gender. These equations for each of the four aspects of quality of life (physical health, life environment, social relationships and mental well-being) were also observed. The only thing to remember is that gender was significant only in the physical health aspect, namely mean score of females' physical health (25.22) is higher than males' (23.80) and this  difference based on T-test is significant at 99% confidence level.

    In the present study,  stepwise multivariate regression was used.  Based on this method, different variables entered regression equation in order of their importance in explaining the dependent variable. Table (4) shows results of multivariate analysis for quality of life and its aspects. Analysis results for quality of life show that five variables of trust, institutional trust, age, formal participation and awareness remained in the model and other variables were out of the equation. The five variables remained in the model could explain and describe 35.6% of quality of life variance.

    For physical health, analysis results show that six variables of public trust, institutional trust, formal participation, age, gender and household income totally could explain 28.6% changes of the dependent variable.  

 

Table 4: Regression coefficients: The effect of independent

variables

 on quality of life and its aspects

 

variable

B

Beta

T

Significant level

R2

Quality of life

Public Trust

Institutional Trust

Age

Formal Participation

Awareness

2.11

-0.77

0.69

2.16

1.07

0.370

-0.371

0.147

0.172

0.090

9.54

-8.32

3.74

4.47

2.24

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.025

0.209

0.287

0.325

0.350

0.356

R=0.602

R2= 0.356

F=51.904

Sig.  F=0.000

Physical health

Public Trust

Institutional Trust

Formal Participation

Age

Gender

Household Income

0.508

-0.190

0.516

0.151

-1.356

0.258

0.302

-0.268

0.138

0.106

-0.124

0.104

6.80

-6.28

3.34

2.60

3.02

2.19

0.000

0.000

0.001

0.010

0.003

0.029

0.159

0.233

0.263

0.271

0.280

0.286

R=0.543

R2=0.286

F=31.497

Sig. F=0.000

Quality of life environment

Public Trust

Institutional Trust

Age

Awareness

Formal Participation

Household Income

0.562

-2.07

0.217

0.615

0.505

0.285

0.274

-0.240

0.127

0.140

0.111

0.094

6.03

5.62

3.02

3.33

2.70

2.02

0.000

0.000

0.003

0.001

0.007

0.044

0.155

0.207

0.241

0.256

0.268

0.272

R=0.531

R2=0.272

F=40.108

Sig. F=0.000

Social relations

 

 

Public Trust

Formal Participation Institutional Trust

Age

Social Class

0.287

0.513

-0.093

0.126

0.322

0.320

0.258

0.246

0.169

0.084

8.01

6.40

-5.91

4.24

2.05

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.040

0.147

0.202

0.270

0.294

0.299

R=0.554

R2=0.299

F= 58.293

Sig.l F=0.000

Mental well- being

Public Trust

Institutional Trust

Age

Formal Participation

0.661

-0.223

0.269

0.505

0.380

-0.305

0.186

0.131

9.77

-7.77

4.81

3.43

0.000

0.000

0.000

0.001

0.201

0.276

0.318

0.333

                                        R=0.582

R2= 0.333

F=57.416

Sig. F=0.000


    For the second aspect of quality of life, namely environmental quality of life, six variables of public trust, institutional trust, age, awareness, formal participation and household income totally could explain 27.2% of the variance of dependent variable (R²=27.2). For the third aspect, namely social relations, five variables of public trust, formal participation, institutional trust, age and social class totally could explain 29.9% of its changes (R²=29.9). Meanwhile, social class variable entered regression equation as a dummy variable. For mental well-being, the fourth aspect of quality of life, public trust, institutional trust, age and formal participation totally could explain 33.3% of its variance (R²=33.3).

    Also, B coefficients for quality of life show that in the first stage for each unit increase in public trust 2.11 is added to individuals' quality of life. In the second stage, for every unit increase in institutional trust 0.77 is subtracted from individuals' quality of life score. In the third stage for each unit increase in age 0.69 is added to individuals' quality of life score. In the fourth stage for every unit increase in formal participation 2.16 is added to individuals' quality of life score. In the fifth stage for each unit increase in awareness 1.07 is added to quality of life score.

    For physical health B coefficients show that in the first stage for every unit increase in public trust 0.51 is added to individuals' physical health score. In the second stage, for every one unit increase in institutional trust 0.19 is subtracted from individuals' physical health score. In the third stage, for every one unit increase in formal participation 0.516 is added to individuals' physical health score. In the fourth stage for every one unit increase in age 0.151 is added to individuals' physical health score. In the fifth stage for every one unit increase in household income 0.258 is added to physical health score.
B coefficients for environmental quality of life show that in the first stage for every one unit increase in public trust 0.562 is added to individuals' physical health score. In the second stage, for every one unit increase in institutional trust 0.207 is subtracted from individuals' quality of life environment score. In the third stage, for every one unit increase in age 0.217 is added to individuals' quality of life environment score. In the fourth stage for every one unit increase in awareness 0.615 is added to individuals' quality of life environment score. In the fifth stage for every one unit increase in formal participation 0.505 is added to quality of life environment score. In the sixth stage for every one unit increase in household income 0.285 is added to environmental quality of life score.

    B coefficients for quality of social relationships show that in the first stage by every unit increase in public trust 0.278 is added to individuals' social relations score. In the second stage, by every one unit increase in formal participation 0.513 is added to individuals' social relations score. In the third stage by every unit increase in institutional trust 0.093 is added to individuals' social relations score. In the fourth stage for every unit increase in age 0.126 is added to individuals' social relations score. In the fifth stage for every unit increase in social class 0.322 is added to individuals' social relations score.
B coefficients for mental well-being show that in first stage for every one unit increase in public trust .661 is added to individuals' mental well-being score. In the second stage, for every one score increase in institutional trust 0.223 is subtracted from individuals' mental well-being score. In the third step, for every one unit increase in age 0.269 is added to individuals' mental well-being score. In the fourth step, for every one unit increase in formal participation 0.505 is added to individuals' mental well-being score.

Conclusions

    The problem that was addressed in this study was the relationship between social capital and quality of life. Generally the levels of formal participation among studied subjects was very low. This finding is consistent with the study of Garusi and Taghavi on women in Kerman, which showed in this city the participation of women is very low (Garusi and Taghavi, 2008). Public trust level is moderate and institutional trust level is low. The levels of public trust and institutional trust are low, and that is a very important matter. Informal charity participation does not have a significant relationship with quality of life. Males and females had a significant difference only in physical health aspect so that females were in better physical health than males. Married men and women in comparison to others were in better situation in terms of quality of life in all four aspects. Also, those who had high class identity were in better situation in all quality of life aspects in comparison to those in middle and low classes. These findings are consistent with the results of Kim and Kazak study. The results of this study also show that by aging quality of life is increased. One of the main variables that effects quality of life and its aspects was household income. This finding is also consistent with the study of Nilsson et al., 2006; Morris, 1988; and Shaditalab and Hodjati Kermani, 2008. In regression analysis, variables such as public trust, institutional trust, age, formal participation and awareness had a significant effect on quality of life. This finding is consistent with previous studies (Kim and Kawachi, 2007; Chen et al., 2006; Garusi and Taghavi, 2008; Ghaffari and Onagh, 2006; Ruslan et al., 2010). In regression analysis of quality of life aspects (physical health, environmental quality of life, social relationships and mental well-being), public trust was most effective.

    According to some experts' opinions, low levels of social capital or any of its aspects can decrease the success of development programs and social welfare (Putnam, 2001; Stones, 1991). In this study it was observed that by increasing social capital and its aspects, quality of life, which is one of the basic issues of sustainable development and one of new goals of governments for social welfare, will be increased. Thus, the findings of this study confirm previous theories and studies on the relationship between social capital and aspects of quality of life.

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