Social Capital as a Resource of Subjective Well-Being: Mediating Role of Health Status

Abstract

Increase in social capital increases the social support in society, thus improves the health and well-being of an individual. This paper aims to analyze the role of social capital on subjective well-being (happiness, life satisfaction, and worth of life) and self-reported health status. The study deploys the Generalized Structural Equation Model with order logit to link social capital with health and subjective well-being (SWB) of people by utilizing the data of 1566 households and individuals in Punjab, Pakistan. Results of the study illustrate that social trust and the number of friends are strong predictors of self-reported health (SRH) status and subjective well-being of people. While memberships with organizations or alike is a weak predictor of SRH, it significantly affects the happiness of people. Our results also depict that SRH is the strong mediator between social capital and SWB; improved social networks lower the risk of poor health status, which improves the level of happiness and life satisfaction. The study suggests that a balanced distribution of different kinds of social networks is important for the self-reported health and subjective wellbeing of people in Pakistan.