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

Ruth N.López Turley, Adam Gamoran, Alyn Turner McCarty, Rachel Fish

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

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.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)206-217
Number of pages12
JournalSocial Science Research
Volume61
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2017

Keywords

  • Behavior
  • Causation
  • Children
  • Randomized control trials
  • Social capital

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Education
  • Sociology and Political Science

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Reducing children's behavior problems through social capital: A causal assessment'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this