social capital cumulative advantage resource substitution college enrollment
Abstract:
Both parents and peers provide high school students with resources that may influence their decision to enroll in a four year college or university after high school graduation. These resources are often considered forms of social capital. What is not well understood is whether important forms of capital such as parental education and friends’ educational plans may jointly matter for college enrollment. Theories of cumulative advantage and resource substitution suggest that the answer may be yes. The present study tests this supposition by analyzing data from the 2004 and 2006 waves of the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS2002) (N = 12,866 students from 750 U.S. high schools). Results offer preliminary support that parental education and friends’ college plans jointly contribute to a student’s likelihood of enrollment in a four year college or university and partially support both cumulative advantage and resource substitution theory.
