Relationship between social capital indicators and general health of the inactive elderly

The world's population is rapidly aging, and in the meantime, promoting the health and well-being of the elderly, who will make up a large part of the population in the coming years, is one of the most important pillars of society's progress. Evidence suggests that social capital plays an effective role in promoting the general health of the elderly by providing emotional and psychological support. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effective factors of social capital indicators on the general health of the inactive elderly.

This applied, descriptive, cross-sectional and correlational study was performed on 200 inactive elderlies in Lahijan. Data were collected using Goldberg’s General Health questionnaire and standard Nahapiet and Ghoshal questionnaire for measuring social capital variables. The data were analyzed using the Kendall's tau-b correlation coefficient, Pearson correlation and multivariate regression test in SPSS 23.

The results showed that the correlation coefficient between general health and institutional trust, interpersonal trust of the elderly, generalized trust and social capital was -0.028, 0.198, 0.136 and 0.150 with regression value of 0.298, respectively, indicating that there was a significant correlation between the set of research variables.

According to the findings on the relationship between social capital and general health, officials in charge of geriatric affairs can have an important role in improving the general health of the elderly by strengthening group and collective activities.