Key Findings

The research intended to investigate the association between social capital and adolescent’s mental health in terms of internalizing/externalizing behavioral problems and psychological wellbeing. A scale was developed to assess social capital in Pakistan adolescents. Five Factors named as Bonding Climate, Openness and Bridging, Trust and Support, companionship, Cohesiveness and social participation yielded good reliability estimates .The current study has significant implication for future work on Social Capital with the help of an assessment tool for Social Capital for adolescents, the importance and impact of Social Capital and role of social capital in emotional behavioral issues in Pakistani adolescents that will help other practitioner in further studies. So, it will help the researches in better understanding of the construct social capital. The Social Capital Scale for adolescents can be applied in various counseling, and clinical setting to identify the social relations, trust, ties and their importance in improving the emotional behavioral issues of adolescents. The findings of this study hold significant implications for clinical practice. The strong connections between a lack of social connectedness and the increased risk of depression emphasize the critical need to enhance the ability of healthcare professionals to identify high-risk adolescents. Moreover, recognizing the link between social capital and its association with emotional & behavioral issues serve as a motivation for healthcare practitioners to identify and address social aspects of emotional behavioral issues in adolescent population. However, making meaningful clinical strides in addressing social connectedness deficits may hinge on the availability of readily accessible and effective interventions. Availability of reliable and valid indigenous tool for assessing social capital will help to study this phenomenon in the context of community social interaction. Better understanding of the nature and determinants of Social Capital and its associations with emotional behavioral issues might also help to resolve the debate between ‘psychosocial’ and ‘neo-materialist’ explanations for health inequalities (Lynch, et al, 2000).