Social Health Status of Students of Payame-Noor University of Pakdasht according to Gender and Field of Study

Social health, along with physical and mental health, is one of the major components of health and represents one’s assessment of social life. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine social health according to gender and the field of study among students of Payame-Noor University of Pakdasht. This causal-comparative study was conducted with participation of 280 students of Payame-Noor University of Pakdasht in the academic year of 2016-2017. Data were collected using Safary-Nia’s Social Health Questionnaire. Data were entered into SPSS-21 software and analyzed by multivariate analysis of variance analysis. In this study, 175 (62.5%) female students and 105 (37.5%) male students in the age range of 18 to 26 years old participated. Students of law, 62 (22.1%), and students of literature, 37 (13.2%), formed the highest and lowest proportions in the study population. As many as 203 (72.5%) students had moderate social health. The highest and lowest mean (SD) scores were related to the prosperity 5 (21.3) and social acceptance 10.2 (2.2). The highest mean (SD) score of social flourishing was among students of geography with 23.1 (4.9). The lowest mean (SD) score of social acceptance was among students of computer science with 10.1 (2.4). The mean (SD) social health score among female students was (10) 80.7 which was similar to boys with (11.2) 79.4. There was a difference in the subscale of social flourishing and the correlation between academic groups: P = 0.004. Students of geography gained higher scores in the subscale of social flourishing and correlation compared with students of literature and computer sciences: P<0.05, ES = 0.03. The study showed that gender is not related to social health, but students of geography had better social health.