The Conceptualizing of social health from the perspective of children and adolescents: Results of an Iranian qualitative study

The concept of social health was first proposed by the World Health Organization in 1948. This definition states that health is “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” (Schramm, 2023). In this definition, social health is a vital dimension of overall health alongside physical and mental health dimensions that provide a comprehensive and three-dimensional concept of health (Doyle and Link, 2024). In the late 1960s, the concept of social health expanded with the beginning of the social indicators monitoring movement (Land, 2012). Since then, at least two individual and social approaches have been presented in this field. In the first approach, social health is considered as a dimension of mental health, along with cognitive and psychological dimensions. Keyes considers social health from an individual perspective and considers it as an individual's assessment and understanding of how they function interpersonally in society and the quality of relationships with other individuals, relatives, and social groups (Niyazi et al., 2023). At the same time, Russell pays attention to the social approach (healthy society) of social health (Rezadoust et al., 2019) and considers a healthy society to be a society in which there is opportunity and universal access to basic services and goods. Some of the indicators of a healthy society according to Russell include: rule of law, fair distribution of wealth, public participation in the decision-making process, and a high level of social capital (Samiee et al., 2011). This study, focusing on the need for children and adolescents to participate in the process of conceptualizing social health, answers the following questions: 1 What is the perspective of children and adolescents regarding the concept of social health? 2 Is the perspective of children and adolescents close to the individual and social approaches to social health? 3 To what extent do children and adolescents’ perspectives differ based on age group, gender, place of residence (urban or rural), and socioeconomic status?