The purpose of this study was to examine whether or not youth networks positively functioned for individuals and the society as a mechanism of personal welfare improvement and social cohesion. For this, the influence of macroscopic social cohesion, pa...
The purpose of this study was to examine whether or not youth networks positively functioned for individuals and the society as a mechanism of personal welfare improvement and social cohesion. For this, the influence of macroscopic social cohesion, parental background and individual characteristics upon the adolescent's networks was looked into. In addition, the function of youth networks as a mechanism of positive increase of personal welfare and providing the base of social cohesion was examined. The questionnaire was consisted of questions about The networks' relational types and extent, quality of life, trust in people and public agencies, perception of social cohesion, perspective of national development, parent's socioeconomic status and adolescent's human resources. Questionnaire were distributed to high school students in 5 metropolitan(Seoul, Incheon, Daejeon, Gwangju, Busan) cities. Data of 1,495 respondents were used in analyses. Study findings were as follows:
First, the cohesive environment of community had partial influence upon the quality of youth networks. In particular, when the cohesive environment of community was formed well, the quality of youth formal networks was better. However, regarding youth personal characteristics and parent's characteristics, the establishment of youth networks was influenced not by community independent effects but by parents or personal factors. This finding showed that the cohesive environment of community did not have direct influence upon youth networks, but functioned as a comprehensive mechanism or a context. And the finding that youth, from high parent's SES, took part frequently in external organizations, and experienced a variety of activities and well-formed human relations, presented that individual's ascribed status could function as a mechanism of accumulating and strengthening social capital. In other words, in the youth network-oriented accumulation of social capital, the community social cohesion is more closely related to parental generation, and youth social capital is possible to be reproduced in accordance with parent's SES as well. Nevertheless, study findings showed that community social cohesion was related to formal youth networks. This finding presents the fact that via participating in a variety of groups or organizations in the community, youth is possible to accumulate social capital of better quality. And it also implies that the activation of formal youth networks by means of youth's participation and connection with a variety of organizations could be function as a mechanism of enhancing social cohesion in the future.
Second, the networks of the youth had significant influence upon the increase of youth personal welfare and their perception of the society. This finding showed the fact that networks were very important for youth in meeting many people of diverse backgrounds, interacting with them, taking part in diverse organizations and accumulating the experience of various activities, thus developing the ability for the prospecting their life and the society and growing up to mature citizens. Therefore, in order for youth to grow up healthily as a driving force for societal growth in the future and a democratic citizen, it is necessary to continuously develop/create opportunities and conditions with which they can experience various activities in relation to all kinds of social environment. The positive value systems and attitudes of youth, formed through the above systematic measures of support in relation to other people and in the course of their growing up into adulthood, will be a cornerstone for the development and cohesion of the society in the future.
Finally, I found the difference in many factors such as the quality of life and happiness, the development of reliability, and the reinforcement of social cohesion base, namely the perception of social cohesion, depending the types of networks. The quality of formal networks had influence upon the increase of personal welfare. However, formal networks did not have influence upon the provision of social cohesion base. On the other hand, the quality of informal networks had positive influence upon the increase of personal welfare and the provision of social cohesion base. This finding was resulted from youth formal networks characterized as friendship, pastime associations or religious entities. Since youth have strong dependence on the people around, such as parents and friends, and regard them as very important resources in everyday life, the influence of those people upon the attitude development toward society seemed to be direct and immediate. As a result, informal networks influence on the provision of social cohesion base. In addition, the result showed the as for the difference of personal/social influence by the types of networks. Factors such as youth participating in formal external organizations and groups and experiencing various activities in them were important in the satisfaction of personal life and the provision of social cohesion base. Still their relationship with people around who provide emotional stability and support to them should be seriously taken into consideration as well. In this vein, it is necessary to search for the strategy of expanding the whole network in order for youth to increase the extent of participation and relationship with formal and informal networks.
This study is meaningful because it empirically verified the fact that youth networks could function as a mechanism of improving the quality of personal life as community members and realizing social cohesion that is related to the development of trust in the community and establishment of the community identity.