Social Capital in Schools

Virtanen, Marianna; Ervasti, Jenni; Oksanen, Tuula; Kivimäki, Mika; Vahtera, Jussi

doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-7464-7_3

Cited by 13 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 95 publications

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“…Research have found evidence that school social capital is related to better academic achievement (Haghighat, 2005;Tsang, 2010). Research on the associations between school social capital and health outcomes, including academic well-being, is scarce, yet (Virtanen, Ervasti, Oksanen, Kivimäki, Vahtera, 2013). However, in their recent review, Kidger, Araya, Donovan, and Gunnell (2012) found some evidence that students' sense of connectedness to their schools and their perceptions regarding teacher support has an effect on their emotional health.…”

Section: Social Capitalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Family and school social capital, school burnout and academic achievement: a multilevel longitudinal analysis among Finnish pupils

Lindfors

Minkkinen

Rimpelä

et al. 2017

International Journal of Adolescence and Youth

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Research on the associations between family and school social capital, school burnout and academic achievement in adolescence is scarce and the results are inconclusive. We examined if family and school social capital at the age of 13 predicts lower school burnout and better academic achievement when graduating at the age of 16. Using data from 4467 Finnish adolescents from 117 schools and 444 classes a three-level multilevel analysis was executed. School social capital, the positive and supportive relationships between students and teachers, predicted lower school burnout and better academic achievement among students. Classmates' family social capital had also significance for students' academic achievement. Our results suggest that building school social capital is an important aspect of school health and education policies and practices.

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Section: Social Capitalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Family and school social capital, school burnout and academic achievement: a multilevel longitudinal analysis among Finnish pupils

Lindfors

Minkkinen

Rimpelä

et al. 2017

International Journal of Adolescence and Youth

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“…levels of social cohesion; norms related to relationships between neighbors) are associated with individual mental health outcomes, even after accounting for individual-level factors. Though schools are gaining more interest by public health researchers (15, 16), research on the role of schools in depression is lacking outside of a small number of studies. These studies have primarily focused on school connectedness and school socioeconomic status and found that higher levels of each are associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms in students (17–25).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Disentangling the Relative Influence of Schools and Neighborhoods on Adolescents’ Risk for Depressive Symptoms

et al. 2015

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Objectives Although schools and neighborhoods influence health outcomes, little is known about their relative importance, or the influence of one context after accounting for the other. Our objective was to simultaneously examine the influence of each setting on levels of depressive symptoms among adolescents. Methods Analyzing cross-sectional data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), we used cross-classified multilevel modeling (CCMM) to examine between-level variation (random effects) and individual-, school-, and neighborhood-level predictors of adolescent depressive symptoms (fixed effects). We also compared CCMM results to results from a multilevel model (MLM) where either school or neighborhood was ignored. Results In CCMMs examining each context simultaneously, the school-level random effect was statistically significant and more than three times the neighborhood-level random effect, even after accounting for individual-level characteristics. While individual-level indicators (e.g., race/ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status) were significantly associated with depressive symptoms, neither school- nor neighborhood-level fixed effects were. CCMM results showed that the between-level variance in depressive symptoms was driven largely by the school (ICC=3.0%) and not by the neighborhood (ICC=0.8%), as suggested by the school- (ICC=3.6%) and neighborhood-only (ICC=3.2%) MLM. Conclusions Schools appear more salient than neighborhoods in explaining variation in depressive symptoms. However, the school-level demographic variables examined were not determinants of youth depression. Future work using CCMM is needed to better understand the relative effect of schools and neighborhoods on youth mental health. These findings also underscore the need for CCMM over MLM when youth are nested in more than one context.

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“…Variable selection was informed by social capital studies from the fields of sociology and public health, 20, 21 as well as studies from the education literature on school connectedness, 17, 19, 23 school climate, 15, 16, 24, 25 and parental involvement in schools. 26 …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…19 Conversely, social capital has long been studied relative to its health promoting aspects but has rarely been studied in school contexts. 20, 21 In this study, we apply knowledge from studies related to social capital in neighborhoods and workplaces to focus on school connectedness and school climate. We hypothesized that school social capital may be protective for teen obesity on several grounds.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

School Social Capital and Body Mass Index in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health

Richmond

Milliren

Walls³

et al. 2014

Journal of School Health

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BACKGROUND Social capital in neighborhoods and workplaces positively affects health. Less is known about the inAuence of school social capital on student health outcomes, in particular weight status. We sought to examine the association between individual- and school-level social capital and student body mass index (BMI). METHODS Analyzing data from The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a nationally representative sample of adolescents in grades 7-12 (N = 13,428), we used principal components analysis to define 3 school social capital factors: “connectedness” (feel part of/close to people/safe in school), “treatment” (get along with teachers/students, teachers treat students fairly), and “parental involvement” (school administrator reported percent family/parent self-reported participation in Parent Teacher Organization, average daily school attendance). We examined the associations between individual- and school-level social capital and individual BMI using multilevel modeling techniques. RESULTS In girls, both feeling connected to one's school (b = −0.06, p < .05) and attending schools with overall high connectedness (b = −0.43, p < .01) were associated with lower BM Is. In boys only attending a school with high "treatment" was inversely associated with BMI (b = −0.61, p < .01), adjusting for individual and school demographics. CONCLUSIONS Although further studies are needed, our findings suggest enhancing school social capital as a novel approach to addressing student obesity.

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Social Capital in Schools

Cited by 13 publications

References 95 publications

Family and school social capital, school burnout and academic achievement: a multilevel longitudinal analysis among Finnish pupils

Family and school social capital, school burnout and academic achievement: a multilevel longitudinal analysis among Finnish pupils

Disentangling the Relative Influence of Schools and Neighborhoods on Adolescents’ Risk for Depressive Symptoms

School Social Capital and Body Mass Index in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health

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