pacific sociological association
social capital academic achievement and postgraduation plans at an elite private university
author s nathan d martin
source sociological perspectives vol 52 no 2 summer 2009 pp 185-210
published by university of california press
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address correspondence to nathan d martin box 90088 durham nc 27708-0088 e-mail nmartin@soc duke edu sociological perspectives vol 52 issue 2 pp 185 210 issn 0731-1214 electronic issn 1533-8673 2009 by pacific sociological association all rights reserved please direct all requests for permission to photo-
copy or reproduce article content through the university of california press’s rights and permissions website at http www ucpressjournals com reprintinfo asp doi 10 1525 sop 2009 52 2 185 social capital academic achievement and postgraduation plans at an elite private university
nathan d martin
duke university
abstract many studies have explored how social capital influences the academic experiences of secondary school students a distinct literature has demonstrated the beneficial effects of social contacts on occupational attainment and the job search process however few studies have explored the effects of social capital at the postsecondary level this study bridges this gap in the literature by examining the effects of campus social networks on college academic achievement and postgraduation education and occupation plans using detailed panel data from an elite private university results indicate that campus social networks have little effect on early college outcomes although students with extensive networks are more likely to graduate with honors and continue on to graduate school students with extensive campus networks and extracurricular memberships are more likely to aspire to high-
status professional occupations especially as medical doctors while family or personal networks are more important for aspiring lawyers keywords academic achievement postsecondary education social capital social networks
social capital has become one of sociology’s most popular ideas but conceptual ambiguity has hampered recent developments portes 2000 some scholars em-
phasize social capital as the community norms and expectations that arise from close networks of personal ties e g coleman 1988 putnam 2000 others define social capital more precisely as the various resources embedded in networks that can be accessed by social actors e g bourdieu 1983 1986 lin 2001 within sociol-
ogy the current literature not only diverges at the conceptual level but empirical studies have focused on different substantive areas as well studies of educational outcomes have primarily used or responded to coleman’s definition dika and singh 2002 and a resources-in-networks perspective has focused on occupational attainment and the job search process lin 1999 this study bridges this gap in the literature by exploring the effects of various social networks at an important linkage between educational institutions and labor markets elite colleges and universities sop5202_04 indd 185 5 13 09 1 56 36 pm
186 sociological perspectives volume 52 number 2 2009
as one of the first to introduce the concept to american sociology coleman 1988 1990 was particularly concerned with how social capital in the family and the community influences the educational attainment of adolescents coleman 1988 s98 considers social capital as the various family and community structures that encourage educational attainment social capital is defined by its function it is not a single entity but a variety of different entities with two elements in common they all consist of some aspect of social structure and they facilitate certain actions of actors within the structure in particular coleman emphasizes quality interactions among parents and their children and intergenerational closure—when parents maintain close contacts with the parents of their children’s friends and classmates—as forms of social capi-
tal that provide information channels norms trust and effective sanctioning over recent decades coleman’s insights have motivated an impressive body of research and have received a measure of support however others have articu-
lated weaknesses with coleman’s understanding of social capital dika and singh 2002 perna and titus 2005 portes 2000 for example a view that equates social capital with beneficial community norms is tautological woolcock 1998 and has difficulty addressing the structural constraints that can limit access to social re-
sources or stifle individual freedoms morrow 1999 portes 1998 pertinent to this study it is unclear if social capital acquired during adolescence would be impor-
tant for students’ college experiences and achievement another key figure to the sociology of education provides a view of social capital that can address some of the criticisms to coleman’s definition bourdieu 1983 1986 190 describes how networks influence the quantity of—and access to—social capital the volume of the social capital possessed by a given agent thus depends on the size of the network of connections he can effectively mobilize and on the volume of the capital economic cultural or symbolic possessed in his own right by each of those to whom he is connected bourdieu’s perspective can consider how parent-school and parent-child relation-
ships affect schooling while also providing a framework to understand how di-
mensions of class and race ethnicity structure access and use of these resources lareau 2003 lareau and weininger 2003 this resources-in-networks definition of social capital is very similar to that used in studies of labor market outcomes lin 1999 2001 1 as an improvement to coleman’s definition this perspective has the advantage of considering the effects—both positive and negative—of differ-
ent network structures portes 2000 including the role of weak ties granovetter 1973 close or bonding ties can be important in some contexts while weak and bridging ties can provide access to resources that are unavailable in personal net-
works burt 1992 morgan and sørensen 1999 the college years represent an important stage for not only academic and per-
sonal development but also the accumulation of social resources this study shows the usefulness of a resources-in-networks understanding of social capital and the sop5202_04 indd 186 5 13 09 1 56 36 pm
social capital academic achievement and postgraduation plans 187
related position-generator methodology using panel data of students attending an elite private university and a range of measures taken across the college years this study gives particular attention to how extensive networks and bridging ties provide students with social capital with such a select group of students this study cannot test coleman’s insights directly and instead explores social capital accumulation along often high-status career pathways this study investigates how social capital embedded in campus networks affects academic achievement and postgraduation education and occupation plans more specifically i examine the effects of extensive network ties to university positions such as administrators faculty and other staff peer networks in residential halls and extracurricular clubs and the use of family and personal contacts social capital education and jobs
little research has examined social capital at the postsecondary level lee and brinton 1996 show that elite universities in south korea provide graduates with advantages in the labor market by supplying access to social capital in the form of ties between prospective employers and professors administrators staff and alumni grayson 2004 in an analysis of recent graduates of a canadian univer-
sity finds little effect of the use of contacts on job outcomes studies at the secondary school level find that social capital is positively as-
sociated with educational achievement and attainment but support is moderate see dika and singh 2002 for review studies that emphasize close ties among parents and intergenerational closure as forms of social capital find an association with lower dropout rates carbonaro 1998 teachman paasch and carver 1997 fewer maladaptive behaviors hoffman and dufur 2008 wright and fitzpatrick 2006 greater college attendance hofferth boisjoly and duncan 1998 kim and schneider 2005 perna and titus 2005 sandefur meier and campbell 2006 and higher grades and test scores kao and rutherford 2007 other studies find the effects of social closure to be small carbonaro 1998 portes 2000 if not spurious carbonaro 1999 685 and potentially negative in some contexts mcneal 1999 morgan and sørensen 1999 fewer studies at the secondary level have examined how students’ broader so-
cial networks affect academic outcomes stanton-salazar and dornbusch 1995 find that more expansive information networks—with connections to teachers counselors coaches and other school personnel—are positively associated with grades occupational expectations and college plans broh 2002 finds that some extracurricular activities have a positive impact on high school grades and this is largely attributable to the social capital accessed through participation the resources available in students’ peer networks ream 2005 and parents’ social networks kim and schneider 2005 also positively affect academic outcomes for secondary students while not directly examining the effects of social capital studies of postsecond-
ary students suggest the beneficial resources accessed through various social net-
works see pascarella and terenzini 2005 for review frequent interactions with peers provide opportunities to reinforce commitment to the academic program sop5202_04 indd 187 5 13 09 1 56 36 pm
188 sociological perspectives volume 52 number 2 2009
and are associated with gains in knowledge and skill acquisition astin 1993 participation in extracurricular activities including service groups fraternities sororities and athletic teams is associated with development of career-relevant skills but evidence is mixed regarding the effects on skill acquisition and achieve-
ment pascarella and terenzini 2005 514 22 participation in fraternities and so-
rorities may contribute to the choice of pursuing a business or law career astin 1993 out-of-class interaction with faculty is associated with gains in students’ educational effort vocational preparation and intellectual development kuh and hu 2001 additionally greater student-faculty contact has a positive influence on students’ plans to become college teachers cole and barber 2003 research scien-
tists and physicians astin 1993 expansive campus social networks can provide students with access to a variety of resources that facilitate academic achievement and pathways to successful careers peer and faculty networks include resources such as guidance support information and encouragement with coursework and information and contacts for postgraduation endeavors studies of occupational attainment have explored the benefits of social capital and the use of personal contacts during formal granovetter 1973 and informal mcdonald and elder 2006 job searches research in this tradition has described how social capital mediates the status-attainment process by drawing attention to the instrumental use of resources that exist in social networks lin 2001 social capital facilitates occupational attainment not only when mobilized during the job search process but also when accessed within an individual’s general social networks see lin 1999 for review a principal methodology used to examine social capital accessible in an individ-
ual’s networks is the position-generator typically the position-generator provides a sample of ordered positions that are salient in the occupational structure and asks respondents if they know or associate with someone in each position lin fu and hsung 2001 this methodology is well suited to capture an individual’s access to social resources through weak network ties li savage and warde 2008 van der gaag snijders and flap 2008 with the position-generator social capital can be operationalized as the level of status or prestige available in an individual’s social networks and network size or extensity lin et al 2001 the results presented below include network extensity measures adapted from a position-generator for an elite university campus social capital at selective colleges and universities
colleges and universities provide a good opportunity to use a resources-in-net-
works approach to social capital while social capital has received considerable attention in regards to secondary student outcomes few studies have explored social capital at the postsecondary level e g grayson 2004 lee and brinton 1996 the students in this study make significant investments in social capital across the college years academic time use for students at u s colleges and universities has declined steadily over the past half century and today’s students spend more time in leisure and social activities than in prior decades babcock and marks 2009 2 even as university students spend less of their time in the classroom library or sop5202_04 indd 188 5 13 09 1 56 36 pm
social capital academic achievement and postgraduation plans 189
lecture hall there has been little attention to how campus social networks influ-
ence academic achievement and occupational attainment family resources as emphasized by coleman and the literature on secondary students are important in the transition into postsecondary education kim and schneider 2005 perna and titus 2005 sandefur et al 2006 in applying to col-
leges and universities students draw on the support advice and recommenda-
tions of family members friends teachers and guidance counselors accordingly socioeconomic and racial ethnic background is associated with access to qualita-
tively and quantitatively different resources and information about postsecond-
ary education cookson and persell 1985 devine 2004 karen 1991 mcdonough 1997 reay david and bell 2005 however it is unlikely that these resources will have a significant impact in the college years few students with absolute deficits of economic social or symbolic resources continue their education into the post-
secondary level and into elite universities in particular bourdieu 1989 1996 most students in this study come from households with an abundance of financial social and educational resources once arriving on campus students may need to rebuild redirect or refine their social capital in order for it to exert effects on achievement or other college-level outcomes selective colleges and universities serve as important links between the edu-
cational system and elite occupations katchadourian and boli 1994 useem and karabel 1990 net of individual student characteristics and other institutional fac-
tors attending a selective college or university has a positive impact on future earnings bowen and bok 1998 kingston and smart 1990 as well as modest posi-
tive effects on occupational status pascarella and terenzini 2005 467 76 with a range of measures—including precollege family resources highlighted by cole-
man family and personal contacts and various campus networks across the col-
lege years—this study provides an opportunity to conduct a detailed examination of social capital accumulation and conversion along a high-status track building on the existing literature on social capital at the secondary level and studies of postsecondary student networks the primary research questions of this study are 1 what are the effects of peer campus and family networks on college aca-
demic achievement having extensive ties to peer networks could provide information that facili-
tates academic success such as advice about which classes to take course mate-
rial and grading and alerts to campus programs at selective institutions how-
ever the effects of peer networks are likely small as most students are rather academically motivated and aspire to high-status positions in later adulthood e g bowen and bok 1998 91 154 peer networks can be expected to have their largest effects early in college as students become acclimated to a new climate while extensive campus ties should have an increasing effect over the college career early in college broad campus networks could provide students with in-
formation about academic requirements and policies as well as support services available on campus throughout the college years campus networks could provide students with opportunities for professional mentors which can foster sop5202_04 indd 189 5 13 09 1 56 37 pm
190 sociological perspectives volume 52 number 2 2009
intellectual development and a more rigorous synthesis of course material lead-
ing to higher achievement 2 what are the effects of social networks on postgraduation education and oc-
cupation plans campus networks could support students to enter pathways to professional careers especially those represented on the university campus administrators doctors professors and research scientists astin 1993 cole and barber 2003 ex-
tensive campus ties could provide information about graduate school programs as well as assistance with the application process and letters of recommendation in contrast to these within-college networks family and personal contacts are likely more important at the transitions into and away from campus martin and spenner 2009 much of the benefit of precollege ties likely is expended in the admissions process if these ties are maintained they could have similar effects as campus networks during the college years the use of family and personal con-
tacts for postgraduation plans could be particularly beneficial for students who enter the workforce directly after graduation and for students pursuing careers with less connection to postsecondary institutions data and methods
data for this study come from campus life and learning cll a multiyear pro-
spective panel study of two consecutive cohorts of students who accepted admis-
sion to duke university incoming classes of 2001 and 2002 duke is a private research university located in durham north carolina with a total undergradu-
ate enrollment of about 6 000 students the design randomly selected about one-
third of white students about two-thirds of asian students all black and latino students and about one-third of bi- and multiracial students based on student responses on the admission application form cll captures the rich details of stu-
dents’ experiences at a single institution with multiple data points and merges of institutional data usually unavailable in studies of multiple institutions respondents were first surveyed in the summer preceding college matricula-
tion and again during the spring semesters of their first second and fourth years the precollege survey collects information regarding students’ background char-
acteristics and junior high and high school experiences college year surveys focus on campus experiences including residential life extracurricular activities and academic development the fourth-year survey also includes questions reflecting on the college experience and students’ postgraduation plans for a more detailed description of cll see spenner buchmann and landerman 2005 it is important to note that cll was not designed to be representative of all postsecondary students but duke is comparable to other selective colleges and universities duke was included as one of the most selective institutions in the col-
lege and beyond 1989 entering cohort bowen and bok 1998 3 the racial ethnic composition of the duke student body is similar to other four-year public and pri-
vate colleges and universities although duke—like other elite universities—has a higher percentage of asian students 4 comparisons with the national cooperative sop5202_04 indd 190 5 13 09 1 56 37 pm
social capital academic achievement and postgraduation plans 191
institutional research program data suggest that cll is similar to other private selective universities on a range of student characteristics including citizenship parents’ education and occupation household income financial aid sat scores college achievement and immediate postgraduation plans martin 2009 the final sample for both cohorts included 1 536 members about 77 percent of sample members n = 1181 completed the precollege survey and nearly all of these respondents provided signed releases to their institutional records refusals were low at 1 8 percent of sample members response rates to in-college waves were 71 percent for the first year 65 percent for the second year and 59 percent for the fourth year this study includes students who responded to the precol-
lege survey and also responded to the first- or fourth-year survey n = 912 for first-year outcomes n = 795 for final college outcomes detailed comparisons of possible nonresponse and dropout bias suggest that the effects are quite small see appendix a appendix b provides descriptive statistics and measurement notes for variables used in this study by racial ethnic group 5 all analysis was conducted with stata se 10 0 statacorp 2008 using probability weights to reflect the oversampling of racial ethnic minority students included as control variables with racial ethnic group and sex are measures for socioeconomic and high school background par-
ent’s education” describes the level of attainment of the student’s more highly ed-
ucated parent for both parents if available in four categories ranging from high school diploma or less to a professional degree the average level of parent’s edu-
cational attainment is at least a college degree for all racial ethnic groups in each survey wave students ranked the importance of a good student identity to their overall identity sat scores were collected from institutional records and combine mathematics and verbal test scores student’s major field groups expected and declared majors in three categories natural sciences engineering social sciences and humanities the precollege survey collects information on family resources that are consis-
tent with coleman’s 1988 conceptualization of social capital during the high school years resources that can be expected to facilitate educational attainment include having an intact family and attending a religious high school versus pub-
lic or private high school also parent-school interaction is a scale combining five measures describing the frequency of certain activities these items include partic-
ipating in parent-school organizations participating in other school-related activi-
ties spending time talking with student’s friends checking if student completed homework and helping student with homework other aspects of family structure may disrupt social relationships including having a mother who works full-time number of siblings and the number of family moves during adolescence cll provides measures of several types of social networks across the college years including questions about friends extracurricular memberships and other campus ties the position-generators included in the first- and fourth-year sur-
veys allow for the construction of measures that are similar to extensity scores used in studies of social capital and occupational attainment lin et al 2001 van der gaag et al 2008 campus ties” is the number of positions to which the stu-
dent reports access by knowing at least one person campus positions include the sop5202_04 indd 191 5 13 09 1 56 37 pm
192 sociological perspectives volume 52 number 2 2009
president provost dean assistant dean program director department chair stu-
dent support professional other professional staff faculty members other than course instructors in humanities social sciences natural sciences and engineer-
ing coach athletics official medical center faculty staff other staff members and graduate students from the first to the fourth year students gain about two ad-
ditional ties to campus positions and black and bi- multiracial students have the most extensive networks in each college year dorm ties” is the number of campus dorms residence quads in which the stu-
dent knows at least one other student 6 in the first year students across all racial ethnic groups have ties to most dorms and nearly 60 percent of students report connections to all residence halls by the fourth year when more students have begun to live off-campus about 43 percent report ties to all campus residences another aspect of peer networks club ties” is a count of extracurricular clubs to which the student reports membership fraternity sorority religious club cultural or ethnic club community service club student government school publication intramural club and intercollegiate athletic team 7
finally the precollege and fourth-year surveys each provide information about family or personal networks that could influence postsecondary out-
comes duke ties” is a count of precollege ties that the student reports using in preparing for college having a family member who graduated from duke other family ties to the university and speaking with an admissions office representative another university official or faculty member the fourth-year survey asks students if they used personal or family contacts in preparing for their postgraduation plans white students have the most precollege ties to the university and are more likely than black or asian students to report using fam-
ily or personal connections this study considers how various campus social networks affect university aca-
demic achievement and postgraduation plans dependent variables for academic achievement include first-year spring semester grades and graduation with hon-
ors each taken from institutional records honors summa magna or cum laude is determined as the top quartile threshold in final gpa of the previous year’s graduating class calculated separately for students in the schools of engineering and arts and sciences graduating with honors represents a valued and sociologi-
cally meaningful academic credential and is not as susceptible to grade inflation and the skewed gpa distribution items from the fourth-year survey describe postgraduation plans including plans to attend graduate school in the fall follow-
ing graduation versus work military or other plans and expectations for obtain-
ing or being in the process of obtaining a high-grade professional occupation as defined by class i of the erikson-goldthorpe-portocarero egp schema erikson and goldthorpe 1992 8 the three most popular occupational categories within class i are medical doctors including other medical diagnosing occupations 19 5 percent of students lawyers 17 3 percent and executives including administra-
tors and managers 15 6 percent nearly two-thirds of students report high-grade professional aspirations after leaving duke and about 38 percent plan to attend graduate or professional school full-time in the fall immediately following gradu-
ation black and asian students are more likely than white or latino students to sop5202_04 indd 192 5 13 09 1 56 37 pm
social capital academic achievement and postgraduation plans 193
plan on working as a doctor and black students are least likely of any racial ethnic group to aspire to an executive occupation first to examine early college academic achievement i use ordinary least squares ols regression to predict first-year gpa with variables for first-year so-
cial networks and controls for student-ascribed characteristics precollege achieve-
ment good student identity and major field area second i use logistic regression to predict the likelihood of graduating with honors using variables for fourth-year social networks and the same controls as above next to explore how campus social networks are associated with postgraduation outcomes i use logistic regres-
sion to predict the likelihood of attending graduate school and attaining pro-
fessional occupations five years after graduation models for postgraduation plans all control for socioeconomic background major field area and college achieve-
ment and models for occupation plans also control for precollege professional job aspirations results
academic achievement
table 1 presents results for models predicting first-year spring semester gpa net of other controls black students have gpas nearly three-tenths of a letter grade lower than white students model 1 latino students score about 14 of a letter grade lower than white students this achievement gap is consistent with other studies of selective colleges and universities bowen and bok 1998 massey et al 2003 relative to students majoring in engineering and the natural sciences students in the social sciences score about 18 of a letter grade higher and students in the humanities score about 16 of a letter grade higher both sat scores and the importance of a good student identity have strong positive effects on grades an increase in sat scores of 120 points—roughly the difference between the white and black student averages—translates into one-sixth of a letter grade increase a one standard deviation increase in the importance of a good student identity is associated with an increase of over one-tenth of a letter grade for this sample of elite university students most family resource variables have insignificant effects on early college achievement having a mother who worked full-time during high school is significantly associated with first-year grades but the effect is not in the expected direction and not robust across model specifications model 2 adds measures of campus social networks the effects of campus net-
works precollege ties to duke and extracurricular memberships are each insignif-
icant ties to first-year residence halls have a significant negative effect on grades at the end of the first college year relative to sat scores good student identity racial ethnic group and major area the effect of dorm ties is rather small ad-
ditionally most students have extensive dorm ties almost two-thirds of students report ties to at least ten residence halls in an analysis not shown i examined other possible explanations for this negative effect of dorm ties students with ties to fewer than half of dorms 18 2 percent of students are less likely to be black and more likely to be male although there are no significant differences with major field and other student background variables 9 the correct interpretation is that sop5202_04 indd 193 5 13 09 1 56 37 pm
194 sociological perspectives volume 52 number 2 2009
broad campus social network ties are not appreciably associated with early col-
lege achievement although students who associate with students in few residence halls do have somewhat higher grades 10
while campus networks do not predict early college academic achievement extensive network ties are positively associated with final college achievement table 2 presents results for graduation with honors displaying odds ratios as with first-year achievement black and latino students are less likely to graduate with honors net of other controls the odds of a black student graduating with table 1
ols regression of first-year grade point average on social capital
model 1 coefficient se model 2 coefficient se race ethnicity black 290 061 260 061 latino 135 054 119 054 asian 055 052 060 052 other 126 080 118 073 female 046 038 049 038 parent education 005 024 011 024 sat total 001 000 001 000 major field area social sciences 177 044 174 044 humanities 160 079 129 078 other undecided 114 045 108 045 good student identity 116 021 121 021 family resources intact family 027 051 032 050 siblings 016 015 015 016 mother works full-time 088 035 087 035 religious high school 026 048 022 046 family moves 004 011 004 011 parent-school interaction 001 005 003 005 campus networks campus ties 001 007 dorm ties 024 006 club ties 020 015 personal networks duke ties 005 014 constant 649 283 802 279 r² 180 196
source campus life and learning n = 912 reference categories white male natural science major note ols = ordinary least squares weighted estimates student background major area family resources and duke ties are taken from the precollege survey gpa and sat scores are from institutional records other campus networks and good student identity are from the first-year survey p 05 p 01 p 001 two-tailed tests sop5202_04 indd 194 5 13 09 1 56 37 pm
social capital academic achievement and postgraduation plans 195
honors are nearly eight times lower than for white students model 1 sat scores and having a good student identity are also strongly positively associated with graduating with honors the effects of dorm ties and extracurricular memberships are both negative and insignificant model 2 all indicators for high school family resources fail to meet significance thresh-
olds within-family and community resources during the high school years do not influence college academic achievement for this sample of talented ambitious largely affluent students these resources could have been important during the high school years and college admissions process but there is no prolonged effect on college outcomes table 2
logistic regression of graduating with honors on social capital
model 1 odds ratio t score model 2 odds ratio t score race ethnicity black 0 127 4 18 0 097 4 53 latino 0 559 1 79 0 540 1 81 asian 0 734 1 14 0 697 1 28 other 0 257 2 71 0 227 2 76 female 1 258 1 07 1 204 0 85 parent education 0 973 0 22 0 928 0 59 sat total 1 007 6 45 1 008 6 92 major field area social sciences 1 540 1 86 1 809 2 50 humanities 0 956 0 14 1 076 0 21 good student identity 2 336 5 44 2 411 5 63 family resources intact family 0 705 1 16 0 677 1 28 siblings 0 953 0 47 0 990 0 09 mother works full-time 1 000 0 00 1 068 0 31 religious high school 0 825 0 61 0 821 0 59 family moves 0 946 0 78 0 925 0 99 parent-school interaction 1 015 0 57 1 022 0 78 campus networks campus ties 1 108 2 34 dorm ties 0 972 0 70 club ties 0 987 0 12 personal networks duke ties 1 110 1 15 family networks 0 460 3 61 source campus life and learning n = 795 reference categories white male natural science major note weighted estimates student background family resources and duke ties are taken from the precollege survey honors sat scores and major area are from institutional records other campus networks and good student identity are from the fourth-year survey p 05 p 01 p 001 two-tailed tests sop5202_04 indd 195 5 13 09 1 56 37 pm
196 sociological perspectives volume 52 number 2 2009
however more extensive campus networks are associated with an increase in the likelihood of graduating with honors model 2 each additional connection to a campus position is associated with an 11 percent increase in the odds of graduat-
ing with honors 11 each additional precollege tie to duke is also associated with an 11 percent increase in the odds but the effect is not significant while within-cam-
pus networks have a positive effect on final achievement the use of personal ties is negatively associated with graduating with honors the use of family contacts for postgraduation plans is associated with over two times lower odds of graduating with honors rather than suggesting a negative effect of personal ties on achieve-
ment a more plausible interpretation is that students who lack a credential such as honors distinction invest more heavily in personal connections for their post-
graduation plans overall tables 1 and 2 show little evidence of effects of peer networks on college achievement and suggest a positive effect of campus networks on final achieve-
ment 12 the lack of effects for expansive peer networks on college achievement could be attributable to a sample that is like the population of students attending selective colleges and universities exceptional in several regards as mentioned above most students in cll are from highly educated families across all racial ethnic groups matriculating to an elite university these students have demon-
strated high levels of high school achievement and an ability to navigate educa-
tional institutions successfully the types of resources in peer networks that could facilitate academic achievement—for example help with studying advice about courses and instructors—are likely widely available throughout the student body having more extensive peer networks than the typical duke student may only provide greater access to redundant resources postgraduation plans
table 3 shows results of logistic regression models predicting the likelihood of attending graduate school full-time in the fall immediately following graduation asian and black students are more likely to plan on graduate school than white or latino students but the effects of racial ethnic group and other student back-
ground characteristics are not significant students who graduate with honors value a good student identity and have a natural science major are more likely to plan to attend graduate school the following fall as with academic achievement the measures of peer networks do not have a significant effect on postgraduation plans model 2 however extensive campus networks have a significant positive effect on postgraduation plans each additional tie to a campus position is associated with an 11 percent increase in the odds of plan-
ning to attend graduate or professional school the next fall 13 the use of personal contacts for postgraduation plans is associated with over one and a half times lower odds of continuing with graduate study while extensive within-campus networks facilitate the transition into graduate school family and personal networks appear more important for students who plan to work immediately after graduation table 4 presents results from logistic regression models predicting the likelihood of aspiring to a high-grade professional occupation five years after graduation sop5202_04 indd 196 5 13 09 1 56 37 pm
social capital academic achievement and postgraduation plans 197 model 1 at the end of college asian students report higher occupational aspira-
tions than white students extensive campus networks and extracurricular mem-
berships have significant positive effects on the odds of high-grade professional plans a one standard deviation increase in campus ties is associated with a 22 per-
cent increase in the odds and an additional extracurricular membership is associated with a 20 percent increase in the odds of high-grade professional aspirations models 2 3 and 4 predict the likelihood of plans for three high-grade profes-
sional occupational categories within class i of the egp schema executives medi-
cal doctors and lawyers together these three groups contain 52 percent of the sample and 79 percent of all students with high-grade professional plans these results illustrate three distinctive career pathways in terms of student background and social networks black latino and asian students are significantly more likely than white students to aspire to be a medical doctor five years after graduation and white students are more likely to pursue an executive occupation than black students the odds of female students aspiring to executive careers are about half table 3
logistic regression of attending graduate school on social capital
model 1 odds ratio t score model 2 odds ratio t score race ethnicity black 1 434 1 41 1 271 0 87 latino 1 063 0 22 1 067 0 23 asian 1 492 1 76 1 425 1 47 other 0 789 0 67 0 721 0 91 female 1 356 1 65 1 363 1 65 parent education 0 928 0 79 0 911 0 96 sat total 0 999 0 80 1 000 0 51 major field area social sciences 0 639 2 28 0 706 1 73 humanities 0 653 1 60 0 685 1 38 good student identity 1 576 3 93 1 632 4 35 graduate with honors 2 214 3 74 2 009 3 32 campus networks campus ties 1 111 2 95 dorm ties 1 030 0 87 club ties 0 928 0 85 personal networks duke ties 1 071 0 94 family networks 0 651 2 38 source campus life and learning n = 795 reference categories white male natural science major note weighted estimates student background and duke ties are taken from the precollege survey honors sat scores and major area are from institutional records postgraduation plans other campus networks and good student identity are from the fourth-year survey p 05 p 01 p 001 two-tailed tests sop5202_04 indd 197 5 13 09 1 56 37 pm
198 sociological perspectives volume 52 number 2 2009
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s sop5202_04 indd 198 5 13 09 1 56 37 pm
social capital academic achievement and postgraduation plans 199
as large as male students and female students are more likely to plan to become a medical doctor natural science majors are more likely to plan to be a medical doctor social science and humanities majors are more likely to plan to be a lawyer and social science majors are most likely to plan to be an executive while gradu-
ating with honors is positively associated with medical and law career plans it is negatively and insignificantly associated with executive plans dorm ties have no significant effects on postgraduation plans extracurricular memberships have a significant positive effect on plans for a high-grade profes-
sional occupation as well as executive and medical careers each additional club membership is associated with a 23 percent increase in the odds of plans to be an executive and 34 percent increase in the odds of plans to be a medical doctor us-
ing a national sample of u s college and university students astin 1993 269 71 shows positive associations between participating in fraternities or sororities and the choice of business or law as a career participating in student government and law careers and volunteering and medical careers in an analysis not shown i replace the variable for number of extracurricular activities with dummy variables describing membership in each of the eight activities participation in a fraternity or sorority t = 2 88 and student government t = 2 05 in the fourth year is posi-
tively associated with the odds of aspiring to a career as an executive participation in service activities t = 2 98 is positively associated with plans to be a medical doctor further replicating astin’s 1993 findings other extracurricular activities are not significantly associated with occupational aspirations extensive campus ties are also positively associated with professional aspira-
tions and plans to become a medical doctor 14 precollege ties to duke and the use of family contacts strongly affect the likelihood of pursuing a career as a lawyer each additional duke tie is associated with a 22 percent increase in the odds of postgraduation aspirations to become a lawyer and the use of family contacts is associated with a 61 percent increase in results not shown for plans to be a college professor or scientist the effect of using family contacts is negative t = 2 21 the use of family contacts appears to be more important for students pursuing careers as a lawyer than for aspiring medical doctors professors or scientists overall tables 3 and 4 illustrate effects of within-campus and family networks on two general career pathways 15 having extensive ties to campus positions ap-
pears to be more important for students pursuing careers that typically involve graduate or professional study such as college professors and especially medical doctors conversely the use of family and personal contacts for postgraduation plans is associated with working full-time after graduation and plans to become a lawyer these results suggest that the resources contained in within-college networks are more readily convertible into future advantages for students pur-
suing careers that have stronger links to postsecondary institutions and typi-
cally involve graduate study off-campus personal networks likely have more immediate returns for students who transition directly into the workforce after graduation students’ particular investment strategies—both of an instrumen-
tal lin 2001 and relatively unconscious nature bourdieu 1983 1986 —result in the accumulation of social resources that facilitate distinct high-status career pathways sop5202_04 indd 199 5 13 09 1 56 38 pm
200 sociological perspectives volume 52 number 2 2009
discussion
the college years serve as an important time for the accumulation of social re-
sources for all racial ethnic groups students report broader more extensive cam-
pus networks as they move through the college years in the fourth college year the average campus network includes ties to about 66 percent more positions than in the first year and about 24 percent more positions than the second year the use of family and personal networks is also quite prevalent among these selective uni-
versity students over half of students used family contacts for their postgradua-
tion plans and over two-thirds of students reported an existing tie to duke before arriving on campus the social networks examined in this article represent a mix of weak and per-
sonal ties including within-campus networks and family or personal networks away from campus while there is little evidence of effects on early college achieve-
ment extensive campus networks predict a greater likelihood of graduating with honors plans to attend graduate school and plans to attain high-status profes-
sional occupations 16 students with extensive campus networks and extracurricu-
lar memberships are more likely to aspire to high-status occupations especially as medical doctors these campus networks include experts that can provide access to specialized knowledge to facilitate the transition into graduate study and en-
try into high-status careers cornwell and cornwell 2008 in contrast family or personal contacts appear more important for aspiring lawyers and for students entering the workforce directly after graduation and are accessed more frequently by students with lower final grades of course this study contains important limitations first these results should not be generalized to all postsecondary students although cll is comparable to students attending other selective colleges and universities across all racial eth-
nic groups students at duke predominately come from highly educated house-
holds and are academically motivated and highly ambitious nearly two-thirds of all students report plans to pursue a high-status professional occupation in the years after graduation as a comparison during the late 1990s less than one-fifth of the white adult male full-time workforce is included in class i of the egp schema morgan and mckerrow 2004 225 the social resources contained within campus networks at an elite institution likely have a different character than at other col-
leges and universities second while cll contains more detail—including institutional data and mul-
tiple survey waves across the college years—than is typically found in studies of postsecondary students i must use indirect measures of occupational attainment and examine expectations taken at the end of the fourth college year third a reader could be concerned about potential endogeneity bias the re-
ported effects of social capital on achievement and postgraduation plans could be due to correlated unobserved variables or the causal direction could be in-
correctly specified mouw 2006 these are problems common to studies of the effects of peer networks lyle 2007 and faculty interactions on postsecondary student outcomes pascarella and terenzini 2005 524 and the use of contacts in job searches mouw 2003 these issues speak to the need for further qualita-
tive studies to examine the cultivation of campus social networks manski 1993 sop5202_04 indd 200 5 13 09 1 56 38 pm
social capital academic achievement and postgraduation plans 201
to address the possibility of spurious effects of personal characteristics on the relationship between networks and outcomes i included a range of variables that are likely associated with the cultivation of campus network ties models that predict academic outcomes include controls for precollege achievement and good student identity and models predicting postgraduation plans include controls for college achievement and precollege occupational aspirations ad-
ditionally i examined the effects of lagged social capital measures replacing the fourth-year networks measures with second-year variables when possible results for fourth-year outcomes generally appear robust under these alternate specifications which use a smaller sample size n = 700 due to the requirement of an additional wave of data each additional second-year campus tie is associ-
ated with a 13 percent increase in the odds of graduate school plans t = 3 41 an 8 percent increase in the odds of high-grade professional aspirations t = 1 98 and an 11 percent increase in the odds of plans to become a doctor t = 2 27 each additional second-year extracurricular membership is associated with a 28 per-
cent increase in the odds of high-grade professional aspirations t = 2 37 and a 24 percent increase in the odds of plans to become a lawyer t = 2 14 the effects of other second-year network measures are identically signed as the fourth-year results but are insignificant 17 with these limitations in mind these results still suggest that extensive campus networks facilitate achievement and occupational attainment along a high-status track sociological inquiry regarding social capital has developed along two general perspectives following coleman the dominant trend in the sociology of educa-
tion has been to emphasize social capital as a source of positive community norms and social control using indicators included in large national data sets such as the national educational longitudinal study recent studies have shown posi-
tive effects of family resources on educational outcomes for secondary students e g hoffman and dufur 2008 kao and rutherford 2007 ream 2005 sandefur et al 2006 however coleman’s perspective has received considerable criticism largely stemming from its structural-functional foundation e g dika and singh 2002 lin 2001 morgan and sørensen 1999 portes 2000 woolcock 1998 in partic-
ular coleman insufficiently distinguishes between the resources that act as social capital and individuals’ ability to access these resources through social networks and memberships portes 1998 like coleman bourdieu points to social networks as sources of social capital and locates the family as key in providing students with resources that facilitate suc-
cess in the educational system and future occupations devine 2004 lareau 2003 unlike coleman bourdieu’s perspective is particularly concerned with structural constraints and inequalities regarding access to resources to bourdieu social capital is the sum of resources—material and symbolic actual and potential— accessible through networks of institutionalized relationships a resources-in-
networks perspective has been applied to studies of occupational attainment lin 1999 and a few studies of educational outcomes e g lee and brinton 1996 stanton-salazar and dornbusch 1995 a contribution of this study is to show the usefulness of this perspective and the related position-generator method-
ology for studies of educational outcomes for students at an elite university sop5202_04 indd 201 5 13 09 1 56 38 pm
202 sociological perspectives volume 52 number 2 2009
campus investment in social capital—in the form of extensive campus networks— facilitates final college achievement and pathways toward high-status profes-
sional careers acknowledgements cll data were collected by a y bryant claudia buchmann and kenneth i spenner principal investigators with support provided by the an-
drew w mellon foundation and duke university i wish to thank dave brady nan lin steve mcdonald sarah mustillo lijun song ken spenner and the anon-
ymous reviewers for helpful comments and suggestions i bear full responsibility for the contents of this article a previous version of this article was presented at the 2008 annual meetings of the southern sociological society in richmond virginia appendix a dropout bias nonresponse bias and missing data
registrar’s office data provided enrollment information for students in each survey year nonenrollment might occur for multiple reasons including academic or disciplinary probation medical or personal leave of absence dismissal transfer or involuntary withdrawal at the end of the first year fewer than 1 percent n = 12 of students were not enrolled and about 5 percent n = 81 of students were not enrolled at the end of the senior year tests for differences were conducted using admissions file information of those enrolled versus not enrolled at the end of each survey year the test variables included racial ethnic group sat verbal and mathematics score high school rank admission committee rating parental educa-
tion financial aid applicant type of high school attended and citizenship only two differences were significant p 05 after the first year dropouts had higher sat verbal scores and after the senior year dropouts had a lower admissions rating similar tests were conducted comparing respondents and nonrespondents for each wave using the same variables as above plus major field legacy admission status and previous semester gpa most variables reveal no significant or only sporadic differences other variables show differences that are more systematic nonrespondents at each wave have lower sat scores mathematics nine to fifteen points verbal eighteen to twenty-two points are less likely to be from a public high school and somewhat more likely to be from a private nonreligious high school and have lower grades in the previous semester by about one-quarter of a letter grade nonrespondents have slightly higher educated parents at waves 1 and 3 mean imputation was used for variables with less than 5 percent missing cohen et al 2003 for sat scores 10 8 percent missing missing values were replaced with a regression predicted score using act score high school rank and admis-
sions committee ratings a prediction equation explained more than 60 percent of the variance in sat scores suggesting that minimal bias will be present when using the imputed variable landerman land and pieper 1997 sop5202_04 indd 202 5 13 09 1 56 38 pm
social capital academic achievement and postgraduation plans 203
a
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ed sop5202_04 indd 203 5 13 09 1 56 38 pm
204 sociological perspectives volume 52 number 2 2009
a
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social capital academic achievement and postgraduation plans 205
notes 1 lin 2001 25 offers an operational definition of social capital as the resources embed-
ded in social networks accessed and used by actors for actions ” 2 babcock and marks 2009 examining six waves of data across four national data sets find that the average time spent in class or studying by u s college and university students has declined from forty hours a week in 1961 to about twenty-six hours a week in 2004 as a comparison during a typical week first-year students in cll spend about twenty-four hours in class or studying and about eighteen hours partying socializing with friends or participating in extracurricular clubs bryant spenner and martin 2007 26 35 3 bowen and bok 1998 337 define highly selective institutions as having a sat score of 1300 or above the average sat scores of duke’s incoming classes of 2001 and 2002 were 1392 and 1405 respectively other selective schools in the college and beyond included bryn mawr swarthmore and williams colleges and princeton rice stanford and yale universities 4 about 70 percent of students enrolled at duke are white 8 percent are black 4 percent are hispanic 14 percent are asian and about 4 percent are bi- multiracial or of an-
other race spenner et al 2005 197 at all u s public and private four-year colleges and universities about 75 percent of students are white 11 percent are black 7 percent are hispanic and asian and about 1 percent are of another race or race is unknown snyder 2002 other comparisons suggest that duke is highly comparable to other elite univer-
sities including harvard princeton yale dartmouth brown stanford and columbia and the university of pennsylvania the student-to-faculty ratio at duke is 9 0 1 com-
pared to 8 2 1 for elite universities the 25th and 75th percentile of sat scores at duke are 1300 and 1500 for elite universities comparable figures are 1334 and 1522 bryant et al 2007 92 95 5 for the placement of respondents in racial ethnic categories census-type questions were used that first ask if the respondent is hispanic and then elicit a racial category including bi- and multiracial options virtually all hispanic respondents also reported their race as white this group was classified as latino if data were missing on these questions information from the admission form was used when possible 6 residential policy stipulates that first-year students reside in dormitories on east cam-
pus while most upper-class students reside in quads on west campus the first college year survey asked students about ties to the thirteen residential dorms on east campus and the fourth-year survey asked about the eight residential quads on west campus 7 about 11 percent of undergraduate men and about 7 percent of women participate on twenty-one varsity sports teams including about 3 percent of male students who are on high-profile division ia football and basketball teams shulman and bowen 2001 34 127 student-athletes especially members of high-profile teams likely differ from other students in their socioeconomic background academic performance test scores and postgraduation plans very few cll respondents were members of high-profile teams and all results are entirely consistent if i exclude intercollegiate athletes from the analysis or include a separate dummy variable for intercollegiate sports 8 class i of the egp schema includes professionals regardless of whether the incum-
bent is an employee or self-employed and managers of large firms unfortunately cll data lack information about firm size professionals administrators and officials in firms smaller than twenty-five employees should be coded as class ii lower grade profession-
als class position was coded from the three-digit u s census 1990 occupation classifi-
cation following the supplemental appendix to morgan and mckerrow 2004 sop5202_04 indd 205 5 13 09 1 56 38 pm
206 sociological perspectives volume 52 number 2 2009 9 replacing dorm ties in table 1 with a dummy variable for having ties to less than half of the dorms yields a significant positive coefficient of 146 p 001 other items in cll ask students about time-use in a typical week compared to other students these iso-
lated” students spend about one hour less each week socializing with friends and over two hours less partying but do not spend significantly more time studying or in class 10 models predicting cumulative first-year gpa show similar results extensive dorm ties continue to have a significant negative effect on early college achievement coef = 018 p 001 while other social network and family resource variables are insignificant 11 in additional analysis i decompose the campus ties measure into separate dummy vari-
ables for each additional position both knowing a humanities faculty member and knowing a graduate student have a positive significant effect on the likelihood of grad-
uating with honors 12 ols models predicting final cumulative gpa yield consistent results the use of fam-
ily contacts on postgraduation plans is associated with 09 of a letter grade decrease in final gpa p 001 and a one standard deviation increase in campus ties is associated with a significant positive effect of 04 of a letter grade p 05 13 under an alternative specification that decomposes the campus ties measure knowing a program director or department chair medical center faculty or staff and graduate or professional student each have positive significant effects on plans to attend graduate school 14 decomposing the campus ties measure i find positive significant effects of knowing a program director or department chair natural science faculty member and graduate student on professional occupation plans for plans to be a medical doctor i find posi-
tive effects of knowing a natural science faculty member medical center faculty or staff and graduate or professional student 15 under alternative model specifications results for postgraduation plans are entirely consistent with the inclusion of precollege family resources variables the effects of within-college networks are robust while the family resources variables fail to reach significance with one exception number of siblings t = 2 10 is negatively associated with high-grade professional aspirations 16 the campus ties measure used in this analysis is comparable to the extensity” mea-
sure typically derived from the position-generator methodology lin et al 2001 other indicators of social capital used in studies of the job search process include upper reachability ” or the highest occupational status score available accessed and range ” or the difference between the highest and lowest status scores in results not shown i replaced the campus ties variable with these alternate measures results are consistent with these other social capital indicators i report results from the extensity” measure for ease of interpretation and because the position-generator modules included in cll were not designed to sample the full occupational hierarchy 17 second-year extracurricular memberships have a positive t = 1 29 effect on executive occupation plans and extensive campus ties are positively associated with the likeli-
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