Investigating the Relationship between Social Capital and Mental Health in the Provinces of Iran

Background: Social capital has an effective role in promoting the mental health of people in the community by providing emotional and psychological support. Accordingly, the main purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of social capital on mental health in provinces of Iran. Methods: This was a descriptive-analytical and applied study. It investigated the long-term relationship between mental health index, social capital, per capita income, unemployment, education and urbanization from 2006 to 2019 using the panel data of Iran's provinces. The data used were collected from Central Bank and Statistics Center of Iran. For this purpose, based on Putnam and Colman's approach to measuring social capital, 3 levels of participation, trust and unity have been considered. In order to combine the indicators used in these levels, factor analysis method has been used. Model estimation was also conducted using the Generalized Method of Moment (GMM) and data analysis was performed using Eviews 9  and Stata 12 software. Results: Based on the results obtained from the model estimation, increasing social capital will improve the mental health index in the provinces of the country in the long term. 1 percent increase in social capital in the long run, reduces the suicide rate in the provinces of the country by 0.27 percent. Based on other results, in the long term, per capita income and education have a positive and significant effect and the unemployment rate has a negative and significant effect on mental health in the provinces of the country. Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, authors can conclude that the greater amount of social capital in the provinces of the country leads to higher mental health.