The objective of the present paper is to analyze the process in which the social capital in- and outside of a family affects children's adaptation to school life by means of mediating effects like ego-resilience. In detail, this study examines, first,...
The objective of the present paper is to analyze the process in which the social capital in- and outside of a family affects children's adaptation to school life by means of mediating effects like ego-resilience. In detail, this study examines, first, the effects that the social capital in- and outside of a family has upon children's adaptation to school life and sets forth ego-resilience as a parameter to empirically verify the process which may influence children's adaptation to school life. Second, an attempt is made in this study to find the ways to intervene in formation of the social capital from the standpoint of social investment since lots of studies have been conducted with a focus on the effects of growth and development of children upon their adaptation to school life. Third, an analysis is also carried out here to determine if there is difference in the effects of the social capital in connection with children's adaptation to school life and the mediating effects of ego-resilience that mediate such effects between income brackets, children's gender and parents' way of rearing.
For this objective, the first-year data for the 4th grade panel of Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey were put to use for analysis of this study. In the analysis, structured equation model is employed to investigate the effects the social capital in- and outside of a family has on children's adaptation to school life by means of ego-resilience as well as paths of such effects.
From the analysis, it could be verified as follows:
First, the social capital in- and outside of a family exercises a direct influence on children's adaptation to school life. Second, the social capital in- and outside of a family exerts impact upon children's adaptation to school life by mediating effects of ego-resilience, that is, a family's social capital intensifies ego-resilience positively, influencing thus children's adaptation to school life. Third, the difference in the paths for income, gender and rearing method of a family between groups is analyzed to determine the effects of the social capital in- and outside of such family upon children's adaptation to school life via ego-resilience.
The investigation of difference in the path models between groups didn't show any statistically significant difference in major influencing paths of income, divided in three income brackets such as upper, middle and lower ones. The analysis of difference in paths by gender revealed statistically significant difference in major influencing paths between male and female children. Significant differences were also detected between the paths of social capital → ego-resilience and between the groups of parents who overly intervene in rearing their children or persuade them in a reasonable way.
Practical suggestions could be drawn from the present study as follows:
First, it is necessary to develop specialized programs that can satisfy the various needs of family members to promote relationship between parents and children, since the social capital within a family is found to have great impacts upon growth and development of children.
Second, as school increasingly exercises influence upon children at their school age, a good variety of approaches should be made for school to play more important roles as a social capital. It is therefore requested to develop programs to elevate ego-resilience of children or youths as a means to free or protect them from negative pressure at school and to help them achieve their developmental tasks.
Third, continued intervention is desired to improve the relationship between parents and children in consideration of changing socio-cultural situations because dynamic interaction between parents and children turns out to be a significant factor for healthy growth of children as a social capital.
Fourth, since it becomes evident that communities, besides families, function to have a lot of influences upon growth and development of children, it is needed to delegate the responsibilities of families to different organizations of the community in parallel with increasing number of working moms and nuclear families. It is also demanded to establish networks among the agencies in a community to share their resources and connect them with each other organically with an ultimate view to contribute to healthy growth and development of children.