Objective: Social health is one of the most serious research topics in the last two decades. Accordingly, the present study aimed to investigate the individualism - collectivism in the two sexes and the role of individualism - collectivism is done in social health.

Methods: In a cross - sectional study, 300 students (159 girls and 141 boys) social health questionnaire (Keyses, & Shapiro, 2004) and the scale of individualism-collectivism (Triandis et al, 1988) responded. To examine gender differences in individualism-collectivism, horizontal and vertical, and social health, independent t-test was used. Hierarchical regression analyzes to assess the relationship between gender and social health (subscale of social cohesion, social acceptance, social participation, social prosperity and social adaptation) and to examine the role of mediating individualism - collectivism implemented.

Findings: The results of the independent t-test showed that boys than girls in one variable - the horizontal individualism (p<.05) and horizontal collectivism (p<.05) and subscale of social acceptance (p<.05), social conformity (p<.01) and public health (p<.05) had significantly higher scores were reported. Hierarchical regression analysis results also showed that after controlling for individual factors - collectivism, the variable gender, there is no significant correlation between any of the five dimensions of social health. In other words, the results showed that individual differences in both horizontal and vertical collectivism and gender plays a key role in predicting social health.

Conclusions: individualism - collectivism on the relationship between gender and social health of students is due. This is necessary in order to examine gender differences in terms of social health, the role of cultural models of individualism - collectivism be considered.