A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Young People's Well-Being and the Association with Social Capital, i.e. Social Networks, Trust and Reciprocity
Authors: Tuominen Minna, Haanpää Leena
Publisher: Springer
Publication year: 2022
Journal: Social Indicators Research
Journal name in source: SOCIAL INDICATORS RESEARCH
Journal acronym: SOC INDIC RES
Volume: 159
First page : 617
Last page: 645
Number of pages: 29
ISSN: 0303-8300
eISSN: 1573-0921
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-021-02762-z
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-021-02762-z
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/66529032
The paper explores the association between social capital of young people at 12-13 years and their subjective well-being using Finland's sub-sample of the third wave of the International Survey of Children's Well-Being. Despite much previous research on this topic, relatively little knowledge is accumulated given that different studies define and measure social capital differently. In line with Robert Putnam, we understand social capital as a combination of social networks, trust, and norms of reciprocity. We measure well-being with two context-free scales: a one-dimensional overall life satisfaction scale and a five-dimensional Student's life satisfaction scale. The analysis is done with linear and unconditional quantile regression. The results indicate that all three dimensions of social capital are significantly associated with well-being. Of the three, trust is the strongest predictor explaining over 30% of the variance in both well-being scales. The study demonstrates the relevance of considering all dimensions of social capital together to avoid unobserved variable bias. Quantile regression reveals that while social capital is important for well-being across the quantiles, it is particularly important for the youth who fare poorly otherwise. Family-related variables showed the strongest association with well-being while relationships with friends, schoolmates, teachers, and other people mattered considerably less.
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