Social Capital, Academic Achievement, Employment Skills, and Psychosocial Well-Being Among Low-Resourced Community College Students

• In Event: Promising Scholarship in Education: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research

Abstract

Social capital – the resources and supports embedded in social networks hypothesized to facilitate the accomplishment of goals (Burt, 2000) – is associated with numerous positive outcomes for youth. Family and community-based social capital has been positively linked to educational attainment (Coleman, 1989; Dika & Singh, 2002), employment (Furstenberg & Hughes, 1995), and mental health (Vyncke et al., 2013) among children and early adolescents. Despite these findings, few researchers have studied school-based social capital in post-secondary educational settings as a predictor of these important life outcomes for youth transitioning into adulthood. Community colleges are settings intentionally structured to provide youth with social capital not available in their home or community contexts that can facilitate higher degree and employment attainment (Bailey & Morest, 2006). This is particularly true for historically low-resourced (i.e., low-income, ethnic minority and immigrant origin) youth (Teranishi et al., 2011). As these youth transition to adulthood their success in large part depends on social capital obtained in community colleges – institutions already struggling to meet multiple academic and vocational missions with increasing enrollments and budgetary constraints.
Describing and linking existing social capital in community colleges to important markers of youth educational advancement, employment and wellbeing can provide community colleges with critical information that can aid them in better serving their target population. My dissertation seeks to address limitations in the current literature by conducting two innovative studies. Study 1 employs social network theory and methods to develop an in-depth understanding of the structure and composition of existing social networks in community colleges for ethnic and immigrant-origin youth. Study 2 employs structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques to test three conceptual models that examine associations between social network structures and composition, social capital and three youth outcomes: academic achievement, employment skills, and psychosocial wellbeing based on hypotheses generated from Study 1.
As part of this work, this poster presentation will present hypotheses generated from Study 1 results along with subsequent Study 2 analyses that focus on associations between two dimensions of school-based social capital in community colleges among low-resourced youth: (1) bonding capital (i.e., support from strong relationships in closed networks; Coleman, 1988) from peers and instructors, and (2) bridging capital (i.e., resources gained from weak relational ties; Granovetter, 1973) as measured by resource knowledge and use, and three youth outcomes: academic achievement (i.e., GPA), employment skills, and psychosocial wellbeing (i.e., empowerment and discouragement).
Data for this study come from 646 students enrolled in three NY State community colleges participating in the Research on Immigrants in Community College (RICC) Study, which explores how various dimensions of community college settings contribute to student educational outcomes. Students, predominately in their first year of study, were 54.6% female, 76.5 % immigrant origin, and majority Latino and Black (78.3%) with smaller proportions of White (12.7%) and Asian (9%) ethnicities. Students completed self-report surveys about their school experiences during the 2011-2012 academic year.

Author

• Stacey Alicea, Ramapo for Children