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Social Capital in Association with Socioeconomic Variables in Iran

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Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the various dimensions of social capital in Tehran and its association with socioeconomic variables. Two thousand, four hundred and eighty-four persons participated in the study through multi-stage stratified sampling in Tehran. The study questions were extracted from the World Bank integrated questionnaire. While respondents obtained over 50 % of the attainable scores in the ‘trust’, ‘cooperation’, ‘social cohesion’, and ‘political action’ dimensions, they obtained only 18.9 % of the attainable scores in the ‘networks’ dimension. The respondents in age groups older than 45 had higher trust scores than respondents in the 18–25 age group. Men had higher ‘network’ and ‘social cohesion’ scores than women (p ≤ 0.001). Respondents in the poorest wealth quintile had lower ‘networks’ and ‘social cohesion’ scores than the richest group and ‘political action’ scores higher than the richest group (p = 0.038). The lowest score in ‘Tehranians’ social capital was in the groups and networks dimension. Therefore designing effective interventions for such activities, particularly in women’s groups, is a priority.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge the Iranian Students’ Polling Agency’s efforts in data collection and entry. We would also like to thank Katayoun Maleki for translating and editing the manuscript. This project was financially supported by Tehran University of Medical Sciences’ Vice Chancellor of Research (project no. 5,715, 86-02-62).

Conflict interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, Knowledge Utilization Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, #12, Nosrat St, 16 Azar St, Keshavarz Boulevard, 1417965173, Tehran, Iran

    Saharnaz Nedjat

  2. Center for Community Based Participatory Research, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Reza Majdzadeh & Ensiyeh Jamshidi

  3. Department of Community Medicine, Medical Faculty, Center for Community Based Participatory Research, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Azita Kheiltash

  4. Education Development Center, Tehran, Iran

    Shahryar Yazdani

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  1. Saharnaz Nedjat
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  2. Reza Majdzadeh
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  5. Shahryar Yazdani
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Correspondence to Saharnaz Nedjat.

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Nedjat, S., Majdzadeh, R., Kheiltash, A. et al. Social Capital in Association with Socioeconomic Variables in Iran. Soc Indic Res 113, 1153–1170 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-012-0132-7

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