The Role of Social Capital in Educational Aspirations of Rural Youth*

TLDR

The study examined how social capital relates to educational aspirations among rural high school students, emphasizing unique family, school, and community features that may explain this relationship. Using a recent national survey of rural high school students, the authors assessed family, school, and community social capital variables to explain the complexity of their influence on educational aspirations. Results indicated that parents’ and teachers’ educational expectations and parent–college discussions positively predicted rural youths’ aspirations, whereas sibling number and school socioeconomic composition had little effect after controlling for other factors.

Abstract

A bstract Drawing on a recent national survey of rural high school students, this study investigated the relationship between social capital and educational aspirations of rural youth. Results showed that various process features of family and school social capital were important for predicting rural youths' educational aspirations beyond sociodemographic background. In particular, parents' and teachers' educational expectations for their child and student, respectively, were positively related to educational aspirations of rural youth. In addition, discussion with parents about college was positively related to educational aspirations of rural youth. On the other hand, there was little evidence to suggest that number of siblings and school proportions of students eligible for free lunch and minority students are related to educational aspirations of rural youth, after controlling for the other variables. We highlight unique features of rural families, schools, and communities that may combine to explain the complexity of the role of social capital in shaping educational aspirations of rural youth.