The Japanese Association of School Health

Original Article

ISSN ONLINE : 1880-2400

[School Health Vol.10, 1-8, 2014]

Measurement of Social Capital at School and Neighborhood among Young People

Minoru Takakura*, Yuiko Hamabata**, Masaru Ueji*** and Atsushi Kurihara****

  • *Faculty of Medicine, University of the Ryukyus
  • Uehara 207, Nishihara, Okinawa 903-0215 Japan
  • minoru@med.u-ryukyu.ac.jp
  • **Graduate School of Health Sciences, University of the Ryukyus
  • Uehara 207, Nishihara, Okinawa 903-0215 Japan
  • ***Faculty of Education, Ibaraki University
  • 2-1-1 Bunkyo, Mito, Ibaraki 310-8512 Japan
  • ****Faculty of Education, Saga University
  • 1 Honjo, Saga-city, Saga 840-8502 Japan

[Received December 20, 2013 ; Accepted March 8, 2014]

Keywords:
psychometric scale, validity, reliability

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Abstracts

Although most studies on social capital and health relate to adults, there is currently an
increased number of studies focusing on young people. Most previous studies on social capital
and health among young people have assessed social capital in residential communities, and
may have thought little of that in schools. Moreover, measures to assess social capital among
young people have been little verified their psychometric properties. This study thus aimed
to develop self-rating scales of social capital at school and neighborhood among young people
and to evaluate psychometric properties of the scales.
Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to 1,362 students in grades 10-12 at six
public high schools across Ibaraki, Saga, and Okinawa prefecture, Japan in 2011. As for questionnaire
items of social capital, we selected seven items of cognitive social capital at school, five items
of cognitive social capital at neighborhood, and each one item of structural social capital
at school and neighborhood. Reliability analyses included internal consistency and testretest
stability. Factor analysis was used to evaluate the construct validity of the cognitive
measures. Criterion-related validity was examined the associations with safety at school and
neighborhood and health indicators, such as self-rated health, depressive symptoms, and
physical activities.
Factor analysis showed that cognitive social capital constructs among young people comprised
of cognitive social capital at school, which included trust and reciprocity within students
and trust in teachers, and cognitive social capital at neighborhood, which included trust and
reciprocity within neighbors. The internal consistency of the scale was good (Cronbach’s
alpha = 0.92-0.94), and its stability was also adequate (test-retest reliability = 0.48-0.81). As
was expected, the cognitive social capital scales were associated with safety at school and
neighborhood and some health indicators, indicating acceptable criterion-related validity.
Only the structural social capital scale at school was associated with physical activity, while
the structural social capital at neighborhood was with safety at neighborhood.
In conclusion, psychometric evaluation of most measurement of social capital among young
people indicated adequate validity and reliability. However, the validity of the structural
social capital scale was inconclusive.

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