• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.135-164
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• 2013

The purpose of this research is to examine the effects of family social capital and community social capital on how successfully children adapt to school. Utilizing the second year data from the 1st year of middle school panel found in the 2010 Korea Children and Youth Panel Survey, descriptive statistical analysis, correlation analysis, and hierarchical linear model analysis were conducted successively on 2,056 second-year middle school students living in 93 communities. The data produced was used to determine what degree of influence family social capital and community social capital exert on the ability of children to successfully adapt to school. First, 6.1% of the variables relating to school adaptation were explained by differences among communities, and the remaining 93.3% were explained by differences among individuals. Second, the examination of the effects of family social capital showed that students who experienced lower rates of neglect also experienced less abuse, had parents who were more interested in and better informed about their lives, and better adapted to school. Third, the examination of the effects of community social capital showed that the higher the community spirit the communities had, the better the young students in the communities adapted to school. Fourth, when the effects of family social capital and community social capital were examined in conjunction with each other, it was found that the less neglect the students experienced, the less abuse the students experienced, the greater the interest their parents had in their close friends, the better they themselves adapted to school. In relation to community social capital, the level of community spirit was still found to exert positive effects on the ability of young students to successfully adapt to school.