Poster #88 - The Role of Social and Economic Capital in Adolescents’ Non-Cognitive Skills

• In Event: 3-159 - Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Section - Education, Schooling

Integrative Statement

Research indicates that noncognitive skills (NCSkills; e.g., sociability, creativity, and school engagement) are an important determinant of student success (Heckman & Kautz, 2012; OECD, 2015). Some argue that these skills may be even more important than cognitive ability (Gutman & Schoon, 2013). Thus, understanding factors conducive to the development of NCSkills may be crucial in enhancing students’ short- and long-term educational outcomes. In the current research, we focused on the role of social and economic capital in the development of NCSkills among adolescents residing in two regions across the California-Mexico border.

Within the family, parent-child relationships form the building blocks of social capital development (Coleman, 1990; Brooks-Gunn & Duncan, 1997). There is an extensive literature on the implications of social capital—especially in the form of parental involvement—for students’ educational advancement (Ho & Willms, 1996; Kao & Tienda, 1998). We contend that parental involvement fits within the rubric of social capital, as involvement is the vehicle by which parents bestow knowledge and resources upon their children.

Remittances, or the transfer of money by a parent working abroad to their family in the country of origin, is a critical form of economic capital which may bolster NCSkills (Bansak & Chezum, 2009; Heckman, 2000; Stark & Bloom, 1985). Parents with greater economic capital can facilitate adolescents’ NCSkills because economic resources afford greater opportunities, resources, access to higher quality schools, and heightened expectations among adolescents (Heckman, 2000). By focusing on parent involvement (family social capital) and remittances (economic capital), we investigate the sociological as well as the material conditions of the development of NCSkills within an international context.

A sample of 9th and 10th grade adolescents in San Diego and Tijuana participated in the study and responded to questions about home resources, family SES, parent behaviors, noncognitive skill development, and attitudes toward school. Propensity score matching was utilized to match adolescents in San Diego and Tijuana, with either parent(s) across or parents at home, on gender, age, and SES. Matching produced a sample with 833 adolescents, with approximately 275 adolescents in each group.

Three core questions were explored:
1. Do NCSkills differ across the three groups identified (Tijuana with parents across, San Diego with parents across, and San Diego with parents home)?
2. How do forms of capital (social/involvement and economic/remittances) differ across these groups?
3. Do either or both of these forms of capital predict adolescents’ NCSkills?

As shown in Table 1, adolescents in Tijuana with one or both parents across the border had greater levels of NCSkills, engagement, purpose, sociability, as well as greater parent involvement compared to their American counterparts with parent(s) across the border, ts > -2.61, ps < .05. Regression analyses revealed that social capital—parental involvement—contributes more than physical capital to adolescents’ NCSkills. Furthermore, this relation is stronger for those with one or both parents across the border, Bs > .21, p < .05 (see Table 2). Results demonstrate the importance of parental involvement, even when economic capital is available, in adolescents’ development of NCSkills.

Authors

• Danielle Elizabeth Delany, University of California, Riverside
  Presenting Author

• Robert K Ream, University of California, Riverside
  Non-Presenting Author

• Cecilia Cheung, University of California, Riverside
  Non-Presenting Author