Social capital and social wellbeing among youth: a third-order moderation-mediation analysis

Youth often rely on social relationships to navigate social and psychological challenges during their developmental years. Understanding how social capital influences youth wellbeing is essential for fostering positive developmental outcomes and strengthening social resilience. This research examines the association between social capital and social wellbeing among youth in Pakistan, emphasizing the mediating role of happiness and the moderating influence of self-efficacy. Data were collected from 843 university-enrolled students across Punjab, Pakistan, utilizing a structured questionnaire. Higher-order structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis was conducted using SmartPLS 4 software to verify the hypothesized relationships. The findings indicate that social capital has a positive association with social wellbeing, with happiness significantly mediates this relationship. However, the moderating influence of self-efficacy was found to be insignificant, suggesting that emotional rather than cognitive factors better explain this relationship. The findings extend the theoretical framework by incorporating affective processes into social capital models and offer practical implications for developing youth-centered community engagement and wellbeing programs in collectivist countries like Pakistan.