2019 Volume 27 Issue 2 Pages 143-152
Objective: This study aimed to examine the association of social capital and social skills with mental health among medical science students.
Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study, distributing questionnaires to 648 medical science students, and analyzed 414 valid data by using multiple regression analysis. The independent variables were basic attributes (school, sex, grade, living condition, parents' educational background), social capital (cognitive social capital and structural social capital), and social skills while the logarithmic form of mental health was the dependent variable.
Results: Multiple regression analysis revealed that cognitive social capital at school (β=-0.13, P=0.02), meeting with friends/acquaintances "several times a week" (β=-0.15, P=0.045), and social skills (β=-0.24, P<0.01) were associated with better mental health. Group learning "several times a year" (β=0.20, P<0.01), "several times a month" (β=0.15, P=0.01), and "several times a week" (β=0.11, P=0.04) were associated with poor mental health.
Conclusion: High scores of cognitive social capital and social skills were associated with better mental health among medical science students. These association should be further examined.
