We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Starting over on Campus or Sustaining Existing Ties? Social Capital during College Among Rural and Non-Rural College Graduates.
- Authors
Nelson, Ingrid A.
- Abstract
Rural youth currently graduate from four-year colleges at a similar rate to peers from other locales, even though they are more likely to come from lower SES backgrounds. Scholars attribute their successes to "small town" community social capital; yet the processes through which young people translate social capital into educational attainment remain unspecified. Through analysis of in-depth interviews with disadvantaged rural and non-rural college graduates (n = 43), this study examines how successful students engage social capital to support academic attainment during college. All graduates tended to rely on family social capital for emotional support, high school social capital for academic preparedness, and on-campus peers and mentors for emotional and academic support. Support from community social capital varied, with some rural students severing hometown ties and others keeping them close. Community social capital offered direct benefits for rural students who maintained close ties, and data from this study suggest possible ways that even rural students who severed ties continued to indirectly benefit, such as feeling comfortable seeking out supportive resources and relationships because they are accustomed to being known. Non-rural students, in contrast, benefitted from continued relationships with high school peers on campus, but no other forms of community social capital.
- Subjects
UNITED States; SOCIAL capital; COLLEGE graduates; RURAL youth; EDUCATIONAL attainment; PEERS
- Publication
Qualitative Sociology, 2019, Vol 42, Issue 1, p93
- ISSN
0162-0436
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s11133-018-9399-6