Does capital at home matter more than capital at school? Social capital effects on academic achievement

A relatively neglected problem is how individuals derive social capital from more than one context and the extent to which they benefit from the capital in each. We examine whether social capital created at home and at school has differing effects on child academic achievement. We hypothesize that children derive social capital from both their families and their schools and that capital from each context promotes achievement. Using data from the National Longitudinal Education Study and structural equation modeling, we show that capital from each context is helpful, with social capital in the family more influential than social capital at school. We discuss the implications of these findings for research on child achievement and for studies of inequality generally.

► We model youth social capital separately in families and in schools. ► We use these measures of social capital to predict youth academic achievement. ► Models compare capital effects across latent constructs rather than single variables. ► Both family and school capital matter, with stronger effects of family capital. ► Findings show how access to social capital creates inequality in education outcomes.