Reducing children’s behavior problems through social capital: A causal assessment

Behavior problems among young children have serious detrimental effects on short and long-term educational outcomes. An especially promising prevention strategy may be one that focuses on strengthening the relationships among families in schools, or social capital. However, empirical research on soc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social science research 2017-01, Vol.61, p.206-217
Main Authors: Turley, Ruth N. López, Gamoran, Adam, McCarty, Alyn Turner, Fish, Rachel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Behavior
Causation
Child
Child Behavior
Children
Family
Female
History of medicine and histology
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Male
Problem Behavior
Randomized control trials
Schools
Social Behavior
Social Capital
Social Support
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Summary:Behavior problems among young children have serious detrimental effects on short and long-term educational outcomes. An especially promising prevention strategy may be one that focuses on strengthening the relationships among families in schools, or social capital. However, empirical research on social capital has been constrained by conceptual and causal ambiguity. This study attempts to construct a more focused conceptualization of social capital and aims to determine the causal effects of social capital on children’s behavior. Using data from a cluster randomized trial of 52 elementary schools, we apply several multilevel models to assess the causal relationship, including intent to treat and treatment on the treated analyses. Taken together, these analyses provide stronger evidence than previous studies that social capital improves children’s behavioral outcomes and that these improvements are not simply a result of selection into social relations but result from the social relations themselves.
ISSN:0049-089X
1096-0317
DOI:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2016.06.015