This briefing paper draws on two prominent social capital frameworks to investigate how the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) can be used to investigate social capital and youth transitions. It also explores the impact of social capital on the educational and social outcomes of young people by looking at international studies as well as related research that makes use of LSAY data.
In this paper the authors explore the relationship between social capital at age 15 and participation in education and training at age 17. Using data from the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) 2003 cohort, the analysis shows that social capital does play an important role in influencing educational participation. For both males and females, participation in school-based activities is found to have the greatest influence on participation in education and training, followed by the strength of the relationship students have with their teachers. Of particular interest, the authors find that social capital influences educational participation over and above the effects of background characteristics such as parental education and occupation, geographic location, cultural background and academic achievement.