The Effect of Social Capital on the Environmental behavior of Villagers in Marivan City

The individual and social behaviors of people affect on the environment and its problems. The recognition of villagers’ social capital effect on their environmental behaviors can provide an important contribution to environmental protection planners in the rural areas. The current descriptive correlation study was done with the aim of investigating the social capital effect on villagers’ environmental behavior. The target population were all of the rural households in Marivan City (N=11228), by using Cochran sampling formula, 250 subjects selected through randomized multi-stage sampling method. Data analysis was done by using of Spss20 software and correlation and regression statistical methods step by step. The results showed that 82.8 percent of villagers have environmental protection behavior on an average level. The level of social trust, social cohesion and social participation in the viewpoint of the majority of villagers (65.6, 62.4 and 98 percent respectively) was moderate. The correlation analysis showed that there is a positive meaningful relationship among all three components of social capital with the villagers’ environmental behaviors. A step by step multiple regression analysis showed that four variables of educational level, social participation, age and social cohesion explain 37.7 percent of villagers environmental protection behavior level.