THE INFLUENCES OF SOCIAL CAPITAL - NCSALL

99 Pages·2003·1.68 MB·English

The Influences of Social Capital on Lifelong
Learning Among Adults Who Did
Not Finish High School

Clare L. Strawn
Portland State University

NCSALL Occasional Paper
May 2003

Harvard Graduate School of Education
101 Nichols House, Appian Way
Cambridge, MA 02138

NCSALL Reports are funded by the Educational Research and Development Centers program,
Award Number R309B60002, as administered by the Office of Educational Research
and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, through contract to Harvard University.
The content of NCSALL Reports do not necessarily represent the positions or policies of the
Office of Educational Research and Improvement, or the U.S. Department of Education,
and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.

NCSALL Occasional Paper May 2003
Table of Contents

Introduction...........................................................................................................1
Theoretical Orientation......................................................................................1
Definition of Concepts.......................................................................................3

Section 1: Theoretical Development.....................................................................5
Dimensions of Social Capital Influencing Lifelong Learning..............................5
Theoretical Propositions from Qualitative Studies...........................................15
Empirical Evidence from Quantitative Studies ................................................22

Section 2: Empirical View...................................................................................29
Analysis of LSAL Data Testing Social Capital Influence on Lifelong
Learning.....................................................................................................29
Findings...........................................................................................................40
Discussion.......................................................................................................55

References.........................................................................................................65

Appendix A: Longitudinal Study of Adult Literacy Study Design........................71

Appendix B: Instrument Items from LSAL Wave 1.............................................73

Appendix C: Confirmatory Factor Analysis of Lifelong Learning........................81

Appendix D: Tables of Descriptive Statistics and Univariate Analyses of
Indicators ......................................................................................................83

Appendix E: Item Parameters in Final Models...................................................85

Appendix F: Model Calibration ...........................................................................87

NCSALL Occasional Paper May 2003
Tables

Table 1: Descriptive Statistics of Dependant Variables......................................33

Table 2: Goodness of Fit for Main Effects SCILL Model Predicting Participation
in Formal Education.....................................................................................41

Table 3: Odds Ratios of Predictors of Participation in Formal Learning.............43

Table 4: Goodness of Fit for Main Effects SCILL Model Predicting Engagement
in Informal Education....................................................................................44

Table 5: Odds Ratios of Predictors for Engagement in Informal Learning.........46

Table 6: Goodness of Fit for SCILL Interaction Model Predicting Participation
in Formal Education.....................................................................................47

Table 7: Goodness of Fit for SCILL Interaction Model Predicting Engagement in
Informal Learning.........................................................................................47

Table 8: Comparison of Primary Effects Models to Interaction Models – Odds
Ratios...........................................................................................................49

Table 9: Network Category by Percent Agreeing with “Get ahead with
education”.....................................................................................................50

Table 10: Comparison of Model Change Statistics............................................51

Table 11: Comparison of Parameters in Formal and Informal Final Models
with Interaction.............................................................................................52

Table 12: Network Predictors of Help with Literacy Tasks.................................59

NCSALL Occasional Paper May 2003
Figures

Figure 1: Structuration Model of Social Capital Influences on Lifelong
Learning .......................................................................................................21

Figure 2: Scatter Plot of Network Size and Density............................................38

Figure 3: Civic Participation and Informal Learning Strategies ..........................54

NCSALL Occasional Paper May 2003
Introduction

Lifelong learning has become a key concept in planning for economic and social
development. The public discussion on lifelong learning is very broad, encompassing
continuing education for seniors in an aging but capable population and often
oriented to preparing adults for transitions through multiple careers in their lifetime.
Previous surveys indicate that people with more education are more likely to access
continuing education for personal and professional development. In contrast, this
study focuses on issues of lifelong learning for those adults who did not complete
high school.

Theoretical Orientation

Sociological analyses are often either in the structural camp, in which social
structures are the explaining factor and individual agency is minimized, or the
individualist camp, in which individual achievement is de-contextualized from the
social and economic environment. Studies of adult learners have focused either on
the individualized attitudes and motivations of the learner or on the structural
obstacles to participation.

Educators have called for a deeper understanding of the life world of adult
learners (Freire, 1970; Fingeret, 1983). Learning theory suggests that people learn
new things best in the context of their use. Therefore, communities of practice—
one’s work setting, peer group, family, etc.—are important contexts for learning.
This pedagogical orientation is consistent with an understanding of literacy as a
social practice embedded in the meaning and interpretation of daily experience
(Reder, 1994; Gee, 1989).

A theoretical model that supports inquiry into the interaction between the
learner as actor with his or her environment is needed. This study assumes a
structuration1 model (Giddens, 1984). Adults construct their personal communities
and the social capital available to them in interaction with the opportunity structures
in which they are engaged. Adults, then, may adopt multiple and different strategies
to address their needs for lifelong learning in the context of the demands of daily
life. Learning, in turn reconstitutes the life world of the learner. Structuation also
has theoretical implications for social capital theory that will become evident in
this paper.

1 Giddens defines structuration as “the structuring of social relations across time and space, in virtue
of the duality of structure” (Giddens, 1984 p. 376). By “the duality of structure,” Giddens is talking
about human agency and social structure as interactive and iterative components from which social
structures are produced and reproduced. This is a subtle and complex theory, for more information,
see the cited work.
1
NCSALL Occasional Paper May 2003
Coleman (1988) introduced the notion of social capital as a vehicle for
analyzing the influence of social context on educational attainment. He focused
on how interaction within and between families generates transferable value (and
values) that support the educational attainment of children in the community.
Coleman’s initial analysis of the High School and Beyond data has been built
upon by other scholars using High School and Beyond and the National Education
Longitudinal Survey2, primarily detailing how family structures create varying social
capital. High school persistence is usually the dependent variable. These studies
leave two questions unanswered: What implications do the findings have for those
who do not finish high school? And do the conclusions suggested by research on
high school students hold true for adults? This study will fill the gap with an analysis
of adult learners.

The richness of available social capital is an important attribute of context.
Multiple qualitative studies have contributed to a deeper understanding of social
context as part of adult learning, but this theoretical orientation has not been
incorporated into quantitative research previously.

Recently, there has been a burst of inquiry across multiple disciplines to
develop a theory of social capital and means of empirical measurement. Reviews of
social capital studies have pointed out problems with the logical constructs and
measurements used. Most empirical work has depended on secondary analysis of
data sets and is open to the criticism that measures of social capital are thin and
construct validity is stretched. By building on qualitative community and literacy
studies, I hope through this quantitative study to challenge and contribute to previous
social capital research by suggesting interpretive dimensions of social capital in
addition to the structural-functionalist dimensions.

This study of social capital employs data from the Longitudinal Study of
Adult Learning (LSAL), funded by the National Center for the Study of Adult
Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) and conducted at Portland State University to
increase understanding of the learning process of adults with limited formal
education. The LSAL targets those adults who have elected to leave or been
pushed out of formal education, a group that has been marginal in previous studies.

2 “The High School and Beyond study describes the activities of seniors and sophomores as they
progressed through high school, postsecondary education, and into the workplace. The data span 1980
through 1992 and include parent, teacher, high school transcripts, student financial aid records, and
postsecondary transcripts in addition to student questionnaires and interviews.” More information is
available at http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/hsb/.
“The NELS:88, which began with an 8th grade cohort in 1988, provides trend data about critical
transitions experienced by young people as they develop, attend school, and embark on their
careers…All dropouts, who could be located, were retained in the study. A fourth follow-up was
completed in 2000.” More information is available at http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/nels88/.
2