Study of the Relationship between Social Capital of the Youth and Their Level of Happiness

Problem Statement: Happiness is one of the major psychological needs of humankind and because of its significant influence on the life of humans, it has always drawn the attentions. Happiness is the primary material for transformation, revolution and evolution of human life and is subject to several social factors. Among the social factorsinfluencing the happiness levels of the youth, social capitaland its dimensions may be mentioned. Thus present paper seeks to study the relationship between social capital of the youth and their level of happiness. present study used a survey technique and a random sample of 384 young people in the age range of 18-30 in Tehran city in 2014. Data collection instrument was a researcher-developed questionnaire which had face and construct validity (KMO = 0.81) and a reliability coefficient of 0.73. Findings of Pearson’s correlation test showed that there was a direct significant and positive relationship betweensocial capital andits dimensions and happiness level. The extent of social participation had the most strong relationship (r=0.548) with happiness followed by social trust(r =0.435) and social cohesion (r =0.331). results of the present research suggested that social capital dimensions accounted for 25 percent of variance in happiness in a way that social participation and social cohesion respectively had themost and the least influence on happiness also amongbackground variables, age and marital status had significantrelationships with happiness.