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

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.     

与祖辈同住:当前中国家庭的三代居住安排与青少年的学业表现

通过分析具有全国代表性的初中学生样本数据，本研究考察了影响当前中国家庭三代共同居住的决定因素、三代居住安排与青少年学业表现之间的关系及其中间机制。首先，家庭社会经济地位较低、母亲在职或单亲家庭的青少年更可能与祖辈同住。其次，代际居住安排会显著影响青少年的学业表现，控制了其他因素之后，三代共同居住（与祖辈同住）家庭的学生的学业表现要优于两代核心家庭的学生。第三，与祖辈同住的效应受到家庭社会经济地位和家庭结构的调节，来自较低阶层或非双亲家庭的学生从与祖辈同住中获益更多。最后，与祖辈同住在一定程度上通过加强亲子间的家庭社会资本这一机制作用于学生的学业表现。本文表明，在现代社会，家庭亲属网络仍然对个体的地位获得或社会流动具有十分重要的作用。     

社区教育：高职院校社会资本生成的重要载体

文章在回顾我国学校社会资本作用和生成途径研究现状的基础上，指出我国学校社会资本研究存在的不足，提出社区教育是高职院校生成社会资本的重要载体，主要表现在四个方面：一是通过开展社区教育活动，汲取更多的社会资源；二是通过成立社区教育研究与指导中心，构建社会关系网络；三是通过开展社区教育研究，赢取社会信任；四是通过政府赋予的社...     

代际网络与学业成就：网络情境与个体能动的双重视角

本文使用2014—2015学年中国教育追踪调查（CEPS）数据,以中国为例考察了代际网络对子女学业成就的影响。本文通过将代际网络效应置于个体能动与网络情境的双重视角之下,检验了个体能动与网络情境的解释进路及间接机制,分析了个体能动效应基于网络情境的条件效应,进而揭示了两种解释路径之间的内在关联。研究发现：第一,代际网络宏观及微观效应在中国均存在。父母认识其他家长和网络情境特征均能提高子女的学业成就。第二,随着宏观代际网络资源的增加,由个体能动效应带来的学业成就回报逐渐增强。影响增强的网络资源因素主要来源于网络规范与关系人阶层地位。第三,宏微观代际网络的间接机制得到了进一步的检验。宏微观代际网络在一定程度上通过影响家庭和同伴社会资本、学业态度和行为进而影响子女的学业产出。     

近朱者赤：基于社会网络分析方法的归国者跨国社会资本转移研究

本文基于同质性理论、同群效应和类聚效应,建立了归国者跨国资本转移机制的模型,并根据“千人计划”学者合作者网络,计算并分析了他们的跨国学术资本转移情况。结果表明,“千人计划”学者归国后积累了更多的学术社会资本;通过“三元闭包”机制,将国外学术社会资本转移至国内;归国后所积累的资本转移效率更高;通过资本转移,“千人计划”学者有助于打破聚簇密度,引发创新级联。本研究的意义在于提出了社会资本的转移模型和计算公式,发现社会资本的转移是一个弱关系到强关系、间接联系到直接联系的过程,并通过定量的方法研究了归国者所带来的社会影响。     

Family support, social capital, resilience and adolescent coping

All too often young people are excluded in practice from the general policy and professional consensus that partnership and participation should underpin work with children, young people and their families. If working with troubled and troublesome young people is to be based on family support, it will require not only the clear statement of that policy but also demonstration that it can be applied in practice. Achieving that involves setting out a plausible theory of change that can be rigorously evaluated. This paper suggests a conceptual model that draws on social support theory to harness the ideas of social capital and resilience in a way that can link formal family support interventions to adolescent coping. Research with young people attending three community‐based projects for marginalized youth is used to illustrate how validated tools can be used to measure and document the detail of support, resilience, social capital and coping in young people's lives. It is also suggested that there is sufficient fit between the findings emerging from the study and the model to justify the model being more rigorously tested.     

方言能力与流动儿童的学业表现——来自中国教育追踪调查的证据

本文以就读于八年级的流动儿童作为研究对象，考察了方言能力对其学业表现的影响及作用机制。通过对中国教育追踪调查2014—2015学年数据的分析，本研究发现，掌握流入地方言可以显著改善流动儿童的学业表现，但其影响主要体现在语文和英语两个科目上。同时，来自教师和同学的支持是方言能力影响流动儿童学业表现的作用机制。本研究从语言环境的角度揭示了流动儿童人力资本积累的逻辑，为相关部门完善与流动儿童相关的教育政策提供了经验证据。     

Investing in Community Participation to Receive Social Support

ABSTRACT

According to the investment theory of social capital, the investment of valuable resources in social activity leads to the reception of social support. This theory is applied in examining the contribution of community participation to expected social capital. A survey of 1,523 mothers in low-income neighborhoods of Hong Kong, China, suggests that community participation was not generally conducive to expected social support. However, community participation tended to contribute to expected social support when coupled with family resources such as the employment and income of the mother and her partner.     

The importance of schools and teachers in child welfare

The article begins by challenging what is considered to be the relative neglect by child and family social work of the importance for children of school and teachers. Key roles of school in children's lives are conceptualized. School is argued to have potential as an ally for children, a guarantor of basic protection, a capacity builder, a secure base from which to explore the self and the world, an integrator into community and culture, a gateway to adult opportunities and a resource for parents and communities. It is suggested that school can have a special supportive value for children experiencing adversity, including those in state care or under supervision, those whose parents have divorced, and those recovering from abuse or neglect. The implications of the central importance of schools and teachers for child and family social work are discussed with reference to the child as client, work with teachers, work with the wider school and community, and policies in social work agencies and in education and training programmes for social workers and teachers.     

改制前后国有企业工人社会资本的变化——以黑龙江省T企业为例

企业社会资本研究的主要脉络包括企业组织社会资本、企业家社会资本和员工社会资本。目前企业的员工社会资本研究在国内外学术界较为鲜见。通过运用社会资本理论,将企业的员工社会资本操作化为由"士气"与"和谐"等12个指标组成的研究分析框架,采取个案访问法对黑龙江省国有企业T公司的研究发现,改制后工人社会资本处于一种受损的状态,其深层原因主要是企业家与工人之间信任缺失,工人平等参与水平较低,收入分配不公程度增高。企业的工人社会资本重建应通过机制完善和社会工作介入路径,去重塑信任关系,解决改制过程中工人的适应性、主体性和福利保障等问题,以提高企业的竞争力。     

Social capital and its relevance to the Japanese-model welfare society

Current debates and initiatives relating to the welfare regime in Japan focus on the contributions of informal and community networks. In this article, we adopt the concept of social capital, which is assessed according to three categories – structural social capital, experiential individual social capital and anticipatory individual social capital – in order to evaluate the assumptions and strengths of community in Japan. The findings are based on a small-scale survey conducted in the Greater Kobe area in 2002. The study revealed that the level of structural social capital is 'average' and the level of experiential individual social capital is 'rather low'. However, the anticipatory individual social capital, which is the expectation of future assistance whether conditional or unconditional, is higher than the experiential individual social capital. The findings suggest that, in Japan, people's belief that they will receive assistance in the future has a significant impact on their level of achievement. Such findings may help us understand the nature of the welfare regime in Japan: it depends on a sense of general trust, which effectively supports the informal groups and community networks that provide assistance to their members.     

Family conditions, parental acceptance, and social competence and aggression in Chinese children

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relations among family ecological factors including parental educational and occupational status, family income and housing conditions, the quality of the marital relationship and social support, parental acceptance and rejection, and social competence in a sample of Chinese children. Four hundred and seventy-six primary school children in Shanghai, P.R. China, and their parents participated in the study. Children were administered a peer assessment measure of social behavior and a measure of their perceptions of parental behavior. Parents completed questionnaires concerning family background, parental acceptance and rejection, perceived social support, and marital conflict and satisfaction. Teachers completed a rating scale concerning children's behaviors in school. Information on children's leadership was collected from the school administrative records. Results indicated that parental educational and occupational status was associated with family psychological conditions which, in turn, were predictive of parental acceptance. Family capital resources were negatively related to parental acceptance. Results also indicated that parental acceptance was associated positively with prosocial-competent behavior in children and negatively with aggressive behavior in children. Parental educational and occupational status was directly associated with children's competent behavior. Finally, it was found that family psychological resources were positively related to competent behavior and negatively related to aggression in children, through the mediation of parental acceptance and rejection. Family capital resources were indirectly and positively associated with child aggression through the mediation of parental acceptance and rejection.     

文化资本与社会地位获得(英文)

文化资本是影响个人教育获得和社会地位获得的重要因素。基于2008年上海市社会结构调查数据,从广义文化资本出发,分别测量父母和子女文化资本对地位获得的作用。研究发现：父母和子女文化资本存量越高,子女受教育年限越长;子女文化资本对地位获得具有显著影响;在控制性别、父亲职业等变量后,文化资本越多,越有可能进入更高阶层;教育、家庭文化氛围和文化投资对地位获得具有持续且稳定的作用;文化资本是社会下层实现向上流动的有效手段。     

Strengthening Social Capital Through Residential Environment Development for Older Chinese in a Canadian Context

Among Canada’s visible-minority population 65 years of age or older, nearly four out of ten are Chinese. However, little research has been devoted to the examination of the role of the housing environment in building social capital for older Chinese despite the increase in this population and related social issues. The purpose of this paper is to examine Chinese elders’ experience of social capital and how it is affected by their residential environment in a Canadian context. In this qualitative study, forty-three Chinese elders in a Canadian context were interviewed with a focus group approach. Findings indicate that the environments in which these older adults lived either hindered or assisted them in building or increasing their social capital. A culturally and linguistically homogeneous residential environment does not necessarily provide positive support to older Chinese for their acquisition of social capital. Adversities in the environment, such as maltreatment or lack of support from their immediate micro environment (family), tended to motivate older adults to improve their social capital for problem-solving. The study offers implications from research findings to social work practice and concludes with an analysis of limitations.     

The Efficacy of a Community-Based Project in a Chinese Context

In this paper, the authors report the results of an exploratory study which assessed the service efficacy of a collaborative service initiative developed by a university academic department and a community-based social service agency in a socially deprived and remote community in Hong Kong. The project aimed to foster mutual help and self-help of low-income families and deepen their social connection with the community. Service efficacy was assessed using a structured questionnaire and a focus group interview. After participating in the service project, the well-being of the participants has become better and their family relationships have improved. They have developed a stronger sense of belonging toward the community. The preliminary findings support the importance of creating social network in social work practice for low-income families residing in a deprived and remote neighborhood.     

The association of caregivers’ and children’s characteristics with children’s social preference and being a class leader in China

Children’s social status in China includes both informal (e.g., social preference) and formal (e.g., class leader) statuses. This study examines the associations among caregivers’ characteristics, children’s characteristics, children’s social preference, and being a class leader by using multiple sources of information (caregiver reports, self‐ratings, sociometric methods, and achievement data). The participants were 1,926 fourth‐ to ninth‐ graders (M_age = 12.7; 49.7% males) and their primary caregivers. The caregivers’ characteristics were found to be related more closely to class leader than to social preference. Both higher children’s interpersonal character and academic achievement were associated with higher social preference and class leader; however, academic achievement showed stronger relationships with both types of status than interpersonal character. The children’s characteristics mediated the associations between caregivers’ characteristics and children’s social statuses. The grade difference test showed that interpersonal character had a stronger association with social preference, and academic achievement had a stronger association with class leader in secondary school than in primary school. The results suggest that children’s characteristics (especially academic achievement) are strongly related to Chinese children’s social preference and being a class leader. In addition, the potential role of caregivers’ characteristics and the influence of child age are noteworthy.     

Acculturation and Korean-American Children's Social and Play Behavior

This study examined how acculturation styles are related to Korean immigrant mothers' parenting and play attitudes and their young children's social and play behavior. 108 Korean-American and 52 European-American mothers completed the Parents as Teacher Inventory and a play questionnaire. Observers recorded children's social and play behavior during free play activities in their preschool, and teachers rated their social behavior. Korean-American mothers completed an acculturation measure. Results showed Korean-American mothers who had an 'assimilated' acculturation style, were more accepting and encouraging of children's creativity and play, and reported more parent-child play in the home than mothers with an integrated, marginal, or separated acculturation styles. Children of assimilated and integrated mothers engaged in more frequent pretend play and were rated by their teachers as being more difficult. The results suggest there are distinct cultures of family life and childhood that manifest themselves as Korean immigrant families individually adapt to life in the U.S. The findings support the importance of examining cultural differences that exist between people whose ancestry can be traced to the same nationality.     

Family and Parent Correlates of Educational Achievement: Migrant Children in China

Analyzing data drawn from the Beijing Migrant Children Compulsory Education Survey (BMCCES), this study examines the impact of child, family and parent factors on migrant Chinese children’s performance in math. The central questions address the differences between the performance of migrant and non‐migrant children in Beijing, the family and parent correlates of education achievement, such as household income and parent education, the impact of social capital based on family relations, norms and interactions, such as educational expectation and parental involvement, and how the results compare to findings in the US literature. The results show some similarities and differences between the family‐related factors that impact achievement in the US and China.     

The effect of community organisations’ participation and existence on self-rated health in China: evidence from China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study

Using the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study cross-sectional survey in 2011 with an 80.51% response rate, an endogenous logit model is adopted to account for the relationship between social capital and self-rated health and the heterogeneity from gender, age and marital status on individual self-rated health status. Consequently, social capital at both individual and community levels is found to be positively correlated with better subjective self-rated health status. Furthermore, the social capital’s marginal effect of the male, high-income groups, the married are larger than that of the female, rural residents, low-income groups and the divorced. In addition, interclass correlation value from the partition of the fixed and random effect of social capital is significantly, ranging from 3.0 to 5.49%, indicating a significant proportion of the total variance in self-rated health that can be explained by community-level differences.     

'I can see parents being reluctant': perceptions of parental involvement using child and family teams in schools

The purpose of this study is to examine the attitudes beliefs, and perceptions of school and community personnel regarding parental involvement via the implementation of child and family team meetings. Interviews were conducted with 10 school and community personnel in a high school in a small county in the south-eastern region of the USA. Several themes emerged from the data, including the definition of parental involvement, parental work and life circumstances, and parental esteem and position within schools. Findings suggest that school and community personnel hold conflicting beliefs regarding parents' desire and ability to be involved in their children's schooling. Recommendations for social work practitioners' implementation of child and family team meetings in the school context are provided.