Family Social Capital and Post-secondary Schooling: Variation by Race-ethnicity

• In Event: 381 - Section on the Sociology of the Family Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 13. Work-Family and Children: Session I

Abstract

Early (dis)advantages in life may accumulate and lead to further (dis)advantages later in life, an effect known as cumulative (dis)advantage. Using data from the Education Longitudinal Survey (ELS), we sought to determine whether family social capital moderates the effect of being at high risk of academic failure (defined as coming from a low socioeconomic background and having low-standing academic performance) on post-secondary attendance. Specifically, we investigate whether the effects of family social capital on ever attending a post-secondary institution are greater for those at high risk of academic failure. We also sought to determine whether the effects of family social capital on ever attending a post-secondary institution vary by race-ethnicity. As expected, our results show that family social capital does increase the odds of attending a post-secondary institution. But our results also suggest that Whites at high risk of academic failure have lower chances of post-secondary attendance than high-risk individuals from other racial-ethnic groups and that the effects of certain types of family social capital on post-secondary attendance vary by level of risk among Whites.

Authors

• Samantha Ashley Wallace, University of Oklahoma, Norman

• Ann M. Beutel, University of Oklahoma