Subjective social capital for university life affects depression and subjective well-being: Results from a network size compared study

Abstract

Interpersonal relationships are one of the most important factors that make students resilient to stressors. In the present study, we focused on social capital as an amount of available resources derived from human relationships. We examined two aspects of social capital, namely network size and subjective social capital, to determine which of the aspects is more predictive of depressive symptoms and subjective well-being. We collected data from 1,772 undergraduate students across 38 universities. Correlational analysis showed that network size was significantly associated with depressive symptoms and subjective well-being. However, the results of hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that subjective social capital significantly predicted depressive symptoms and subjective well-being even after controlling for network size. These findings suggest that subjective social capital in university life is an important factor for student's psychological adjustment and well-being.