Razi Journal of Medical Sciences

  Background : Social capital is defined as norms and networks which provide conditions to people’s participation in social activities in order to profit mutually. Considering the importance of social capital and having less studies done in this area, this research is aimed to study the social capital and factors affecting it among students of Tehran University of medical sciences (TUMS).

  Methods: This study is a cross-sectional study. 200 medical students of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, with a mean age (2.34) 22.55 participated in the study. Participants were selected randomly. 36-item Bullen’s questionnaire having 8 dimensions was used for data collection. Finally, data were analyzed using SPSS 18. Data analysis was performed with T-Test, Pearson correlation and ONOVA.

  Results: Total means score for social capital was calculated 46.87. Minimum and maximum mean was measured for “participation in local community” and “family and friends connections” dimension, respectively. The study also showed a relationship between social capital with gender, age and language (ethnicity) of participants.

  Conclusion: According to the results, there exists a relationship between social capital, in some concepts, with age, gender and Place of Residence. As a guideline, authorities can use it to increase social capital through having appropriate interventions.