The Relationship between Social Capital and Successful Aging in the Elderly Community of Sabzevar, 2019-2020

Due to the increasing number of aging population in developing countries such as Iran and the role of social capital and successful aging in the aging population, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between social capital and successful aging in the aging population, Iran.

This cross-sectional descriptive study was performed on 402 aging people randomly selected from 6 health centers in the city, 2 aging homes and 3 open centers (medical sciences, education, social security) in 2019-2020 as a research population by stratified sampling. To collect information from the aging demographic information questionnaires, Onyx and Bowen Social Capital Questionnaire, Successful Aging Questionnaire, and aging Cognitive Status Questionnaire (AMT) were used for data collection. Data were analyzed using SPSS-22 software and Pearson correlation, focal tests, and multivariate regression.

The mean of age of the subjects were 68.8 years. The social capital score was correlated with the successful aging, which was positively and moderately correlated (r = 0.662). Nearly 30% of the changes in the scores of the dependent variable of successful aging were influenced by the variables of social capital and marital status, living with relatives, employment, and educational level (r2 =  0.29).

The results of this study confirming the predictive power and impact of social capital on the index of successful elderly in the community are puzzling and relationship was found to be more significant. Social capital as an independent variable significantly affects successful aging as a dependent variable.in other words, social capital has the ability to predict successful aging.in some aspects including physical health, mental health, physical function and cognitive status. This findings could be a good guide for further research focus and for the authorities and practitioners, to achieve successful aging goals.