Social capital and children's wellbeing: a critical synthesis of the international social capital literature

Abstract

Drawing on social capital literature from the international realm, this article presents a critical synthesis of this social resource in relation to children's and youth's wellbeing. Although considerable evidence indicates that social capital can have a positive impact on future outcomes for children and youth, no prior comprehensive review exists of the literature on social capital and children's wellbeing. Adopting the systematic review method (SR), the author explores how social capital has been conceptualised and operationalised as an explanatory variable in research on individual and collective wellbeing with children and youth. Oft‐cited indicators of family social capital and community social capital are identified, together with common control variables, such as human and financial capital. The author concludes by examining several social capital trends in relation to children's wellbeing and offering recommendations for future research using a social capital theoretical framework to explore additional outcomes related to children's and youth's wellbeing.

Partnership and Social Capital as the Resources for Pupils` Health and Well-Being in School Communities - A Follow-Up Study in Finland~!2009-08-19~!2010-02-18~!2010-07-08~!

“…The expansion of the common social capital becomes an objective between the school (to contain the staff and a school nurse) and the home [22,28]: what kinds of methods and operating models are there to help and to solve problems and shortcomings that are manifested in confidential interdependency and co-operation. Teachers' turnover at school also sets challenges to the continuity of co-operation and to the expansion of social capital.…”

“…Because the functionality of the social support networks is significant when promoting the health and well-being of children and adolescents [13,22], new ideas and models for improving co-operation must be developed in a continuously changing society. Schools indeed should be target-oriented, for example in co-operation between the home and the school, in planning how in health education could utilize interactive learning tasks to allow children, parents and different schools to co-operate more than at present, for example in the web-based learning environment of the school's health education.…”

“…The concept of capital is many-sided and there are many approaches to it; for example, Hancock (2001) has divided the concept of capital into human, natural, economic and social forms [21]. Ferguson (2006) has used the concepts of social, human and financial capital in a review article that deals with social capital and children's well-being [22]. Based on the results of this review article, he further divided social capital into the forms of family social capital and community social capital.…”

“…Abel (2008) has examined health and health promotion activities especially from the point of view of cultural capital [20]. In earlier studies social capital, as one form of capital, has been defined as wide welfare-related effects in the promotion of the health and well-being of adults, children and adolescents [22,24,25], so it is justified to adapt the theory of social capital also in the well-being and health of school communities. In this article we focus on social capital from the point of view of social support networks and partnership as the resources of the school community's and pupils' health and well-being by applying Abel's model of the forms of capital and contextualizing it in the school community (Fig.…”

How holistic nursing can enhance the quality of life of children with cystic fibrosis

“…The Children's Society 2015, UNICEF 2011), can be abstract and subjective, are complex terms frequently intertwined with each other, with life satisfaction, social capital and with happiness (e.g. Hean et al 2013, Taylor et al 2008, Ferguson 2006. Savage et al (2009) identify QoL as a multidimensional construct, relating to individuals' perceptions of the impact of illness and treatment on their health, well-being or physical, psychological and social functioning.…”