Social Capital and Young People. Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth. Briefing Paper 26

Social capital refers to the attributes and qualities of family, social and community networks that facilitate cooperation between individuals and communities. The quality of these networks and the extent to which individuals are engaged with them are believed to have an impact on the educational and social development of children and young people. Some evidence suggests that the influence of community networks can even help to offset some of the effects of socioeconomic disadvantage. Its intangible nature makes measuring social capital difficult. Measuring the social capital of young people is even more difficult because people tend to focus on the social capital of their parents and pay less attention to that of young people. This briefing paper discusses how young people's social capital can be examined using the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY). The paper is divided into four sections. In the first, the author looks at two social capital frameworks to clarify the various themes and complexities associated with social capital. In the second section he draws on these frameworks to assess the suitability of using data from LSAY to investigate social capital and its relationship to youth transitions. The next section summarises other social capital-related research that has used LSAY data. Finally, he draws some conclusions and makes some recommendations for future directions for LSAY in this area. Appended are: (1) Social Capital Questions, 2004-05; and (2) Social Capital and Social Capital-Related Questions. (Contains 2 figures, 3 tables and 1 footnote.)