Social Capital and Prosocial Behavior among German Children

Helen Barton,Jared Thorpe,Mikaela Dufur

doi:10.3390/socsci9110215

Helen Barton, Jared Thorpe + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci9110215

Copy DOI

Abstract

A robust literature connects children’s and adolescents’ social capital to a range of desirable outcomes, including increased academic achievement and decreased delinquency. We extend this research by extending possible associations with child social capital to positive behaviors, measured here as prosocial behaviors. We examine data on 6th graders in Germany. We select the German context in part because one important source of child social capital, participation in religious congregations, is not as prevalent in modern Germany as in the US samples from which many social capital studies are derived. We use data from the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) and measures of child social capital, including parent–child interactions, family activities, and religious participation, to predict prosocial behavior. Results indicate that social capital in the form of parent-child interactions in the home and child religiosity is associated weakly with greater prosocial behavior. These results suggest that adults can help children develop stronger prosocial norms by increasing interaction with their children and by exposing their children to network ties in religious settings, but also that social capital can be derived different ways in different contexts.

Highlights

A robust literature connects children’s and adolescents’ social capital, or the resources youths can access through their social connections and relationships, to a range of desirable outcomes, including increased academic achievement and decreased delinquency
The aim of this paper was to assess the relationship between social capital and prosocial behaviors among children and to extend knowledge about connections between child social capital and positive outcomes to a non-US context, in this case Germany
A handful of studies have suggested that certain family dynamics that are typically understood as indicators of social capital are associated with various prosocial behaviors

Summary

Introduction

A robust literature connects children’s and adolescents’ social capital, or the resources youths can access through their social connections and relationships, to a range of desirable outcomes, including increased academic achievement and decreased delinquency. We extend research on children’s social capital by exploring possible associations between children’s social capital and positive behaviors, measured here as prosocial behaviors. Most of what we know about links between youth social capital and desirable outcomes has been derived from data drawn from the United States; we know little about how child social capital might operate in other settings that have different social structures or safety nets. We select the German context in part because one important source of child social capital, participation in religious congregations, is not as prevalent in modern Germany. We use data from the German National Education Panel Study (NEPS) and measures of child social capital, including parent-child interactions, family activities, and religious participation, to predict prosocial behavior

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion